Under the Ice
by wandering wastrel
Summary: Sequel to 'Links of Love'. Chibi-usa's time traveling is done, and all the senshi are safe in the future in Crystal Tokyo. All... but one.
1. Chapter 1

NOTE: This story is the sequel to 'Links of Love', (also written by this author) which should hopefully also be available at the site you're reading this. It's not strictly necessary to read that before you read this, but certain things will be more clear if you have.

Chapter 1

"It's not easy being sneaky with a cat on your head."

So Princess Small Lady Usagi, also known as Chibi-usa, thought to herself, as she attempted to stroll nonchalantly along a corridor of the Crystal Palace with Diana the mooncat perched atop her head. The two were both well used to this mode of feline transportation, so the little Princess' movements were undisturbed as she grew closer to her goal.

Despite her wishes, though, undisturbed was not the same as unnoticed. The uniformed staff were less populous in this section of the palace, but there still seemed to be another around every corner. Each one bowed their head slightly at the sight of the Princess, in the abbreviated acknowledgement commonly used for the royal persons in the inner recesses of the crystalline building, before continuing on with whatever duty they were about.

The brightly colored banners, which were hung high in the corridor to break the monotony of the opaque milky-white crystalline walls, moved gently in the artificial breeze as the pair moved along the hallway. Chibi-usa tried to proceed as inconspicuously as possible, but the mooncat seemed to draw the eye of everyone she encountered. It never occurred to her that her own royal presence was what commanded the palace staff's attention, rather than her perched companion.

Fortunately, fewer people were about as Chibi-usa got closer to her destination, a rarely used path whose purpose seemed to have been forgotten in the centuries since the palace's first construction. The path seemed to simply dead-end in a wall, and not even a particularly interesting wall at that; just another smooth crystalline surface akin to the rest of the structure.

Approaching the wall, Chibi-usa quickly looked behind her, in case yet another staff person was following to see if they could assist their Princess. The hall being empty, she ignored the dead-end, and stepped to the left side wall, which appeared to be exactly the same as all the other walls.

But at a slight flicker of concentration from the girl, a narrow seam opened in the wall before her. It grew to her height, then expanded into an oval opening, which she stepped into, habitually ducking a bit so Diana would fit inside as well. With a sweep of her arm, the opening closed behind her.

"Where are we?" asked Diana, as Chibi-usa brought a small, barely glowing crystal from a pocket hidden within the folds of her royal gown. The light revealed them to be in a small chamber barely big enough for the two of them.

"We're in the wall next to Lady Makoto's room," whispered the little Princess.

"In the wall? I didn't know there were any secret compartments in the palace!"

"There aren't; I grew it right then."

"You... huh?" The mooncat leaned down to look her Princess in the eye, albeit upside down.

"Shh! I'll explain later; right now let's see if Lady Makoto is alone or not. I have to turn the light off now," she said, placing the dimly glowing shard back into her pocket.

"You could just knock at her door, you know," Diana stated, settling back into her usual position, not bothered by the now utter darkness.

"I don't want to talk to her if she's not in the mood for it. Now let me concentrate..."

Slowly from the pitch black surroundings, there appeared in the crystalline wall before them four very small circles of dim light.

Chibi-usa leaned forward, supporting herself with her hands against the wall as she aligned her eyes with the lower set of peepholes she had just created. Diana found that just lowering her head a bit was all the adjustment needed to permit her to also peer into the room beyond.

* * *

Lady Makoto's suite within the Crystal Palace was a well-lit setting. Light from one wall filled the room, the early morning glow greeted gratefully by the numerous plants and small trees that Makoto kept inside to tend to.

But it was not any of the plants that Makoto was attending to at the moment, but rather the figure of Lady Ami, stretched out upon the bed near the center of the room. A figure which wore only the silken ropes binding her wrists to the iron work set into the heavy oaken headboard of the bed.

Makoto's form was draped in a short, loose-fitting robe, which fell open as she sat upon the bed next to her captive. Her hair was unbound and fell down unruly about her face as Makoto gazed down upon the form of the other woman, who smiled up in return.

Ami theatrically twisted in her bonds. "Oh dear, I am totally at your mercy now, oh, who will rescue me?" Makoto leered, and whispered, "No one, my pretty, no one at all..." Makoto bent down and kissed her lover gently on the stomach. Ami laughed softly at the touch, and squirmed under her tormenter's attentions as the kisses were slowly placed higher and higher upon her body.

Makoto kissed her way up Ami's torso, slowly teasing her way between the familiar mounds of the blue-haired woman's pert breasts, brown hair brushing teasingly against taunt nipples, and on across her neck to finally reach the mouth that was awaiting her arrival. The two kissed, tongues lightly teasing, as Makoto slid her arms between the bed and Ami, embracing her firmly as Ami began to moan in slight gasps.

Makoto's hand pulled from behind her lover, prepared to explore other aspects of the captive's beauty, when a small crystal on the stand next to the bed began to flash.

"Medical Emergency! Lady Ami, we need you at the clinic! Medical Emergency!" came from the crystal, flashing and buzzing its call for assistance.

"Sorry, love," Ami said, as she twisted her hands and shredded the ropes as if they were but suggestions rather than real. Makoto just smiled, no other expression of forgiveness and understanding needed between the two. Ami jumped from the bed, grabbing the crystal and speaking into it, letting her medical team know she would be there presently. Makoto patiently held Ami's doctor robe open for her as she ducked into it, declining to dress further in her haste.

"A gardener hurt himself," Ami said, as she brushed closed the garment and dropped the communication crystal into a pocket. "I heard," said Makoto. "Go. Your office, so you won't be seen?" she said, offering the shorter woman her hand. Ami nodded, and took her lover's hand with her own. The two concentrated, looking each at the other, then Ami disappeared from the room, transported by their combined power to her office in the small medical clinic on the other side of the palace.

Makoto sighed, finally drawing closed her own robe. "We never get time to play anymore," she muttered to the empty room. With a shrug, she walked over to a small workbench at the side of her room, where a watering can stood waiting. Quickly filling the can, she began her usual morning routine of carefully watering the myriad plants that filled her chamber.

* * *

Chibi-usa and Diana pulled back from the peep holes, which grew opaque once again. The little mooncat looked down at her Princess, and said quietly, "We probably shouldn't have seen that."

"That isn't what I was trying to see!" protested Chibi-usa, acutely aware that her cheeks were burning fiercely. "Lady Makoto waters her plants in the morning and I wanted to see if she was alone, that's all."

"Well, she sure wasn't alone. But we're too young to see things like that," Diana stated primly, in unconscious imitation of her own mother.

"I'm over 900 years old!" whispered the Princess angrily. "You're not much younger!"

"Still. You shouldn't peep anymore. How'd you do this, anyway?"

"I said, I'll tell you later. Lady Makoto is alone now, at least, and I should talk to her now."

With that, the girl waved her hand in the direction they had entered from, and again a gap in the crystalline wall appeared before them. In a movement performed so often it was second-nature, Chibi-usa lowered her head to let just Diana peer around the edge. Diana patted with her paw, and Chibi-usa moved smoothly from the wall. The temporary compartment filled with crystalline wall behind her, just as yet another staff person walked by the intersection of hallway ahead of them.

With twin sighs of relief, Chibi-usa and Diana walked up to the intersection, unnoticed by the passer-by, and proceeded around the corner into the more well-used corridor that led towards Lady Makoto's door.

The Princess knocked quickly on the unpretentious and plain door. After but a moment, it opened, and Makoto appeared. The questioning look on her face cleared, and she smiled as she gestured for the two to enter.

"Small Lady, and Diana," said Makoto, "please come on in. I'm just watering my plants at the moment; would you mind waiting while I finish?"

"Of course not, Lady Makoto," replied the girl, coming further into Makoto's suite. The door gently closed behind them, as Chibi-usa took a seat on a small chair that sat in front of a mirrored vanity. While Makoto quickly finished her watering, Chibi-usa pretended to examine the intricate carved ivy vines that decorated the wooden vanity and chair, as watching Makoto's robe rise every time she reached up to water the potted plants above her head, reminded the girl of the scene she so recently had seen.

"There," said Makoto, satisfied, as she sat the watering can back on the workbench, and came over to where Chibi-usa was waiting. Pulling up another chair from a writing desk across the room, Makoto sat down, facing the cat-adorned Princess.

"Sorry that I'm not really cleaned up for visitors," Makoto said, running a hand through her unbound and as yet unbrushed hair. "I suppose it's my turn now?" she asked, "For the question you've asked most of the others?"

Chibi-usa nodded, a bit abashed. "The others told you?" the girl asked. Makoto nodded, waiting.

"Well, then," the little Princess continued, "I know you'll probably give the same answer all the others did, but I have to ask anyway to be sure." She looked down at the floor for a moment, Diana automatically adjusting to the movement, then looked back up to earnestly gaze into the older woman's eyes.

"Sailor Jupiter, where is Sailor Saturn? Where is Hotaru? What happened to her?"

Though knowing precisely what the girl was about to ask her, at the yearning in the ever-young face, the aching need, Makoto had to turn away. She swallowed, knowing she was stalling, paused. Then set her jaw, and turned back to reply, looking directly at the girl and speaking with open honesty.

"Small Lady, I cannot tell you that. I am sorry."

The girl seemed to shrink smaller in the chair, eyes watering. "But you have to know. One of you has to know. I've asked mother and father, and Lady Rei, and Lady Minako, and Puu, and even Lady Haruka and Lady Michiru. Even Luna and Artemis. No one will tell me anything."

Makoto sighed. "I'm sorry. I can't answer your question, Princess."

Chibi-usa looked down at the floor, nodding sadly. "Because mama ordered you not to."

"Yes." Makoto hesitated, then said, "Neo-Queen Serenity rarely orders anyone to do anything, you know that. Least of all us. She doesn't need to. But this... This was a direct order. Extremely direct."

"I shouldn't have asked mother first," the young Princess muttered bitterly.

Makoto cocked her head. "No, Small Lady, I think you misunderstand. The Queen's order was not given lately. It was given several hundred years ago. And it was not that we cannot discuss it with you. We cannot discuss it with anyone at all."

Chibi-usa's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "It's... it's that big a secret?"

Makoto paused, then replied, "That's too close a question for me to answer, I think. I am sorry."

"I know. I can't really expect you to disobey mother when she's being Queen. But I had to try." With that, Chibi-usa stood, to depart.

Makoto stood as well. "So, will you ask Ami as well?"

Chibi-usa nodded, turning towards the door. "I have my regular medical exam scheduled with her tomorrow. I thought I'd ask her then. I know she won't tell me, but I have to try. She's the last one to ask out of everyone."

"And after that?" wondered Makoto.

Chibi-usa turned back to face Makoto directly. "I'm sorry. I can't answer your question, Lady Makoto."

Makoto smiled ruefully, and bowed formally to the girl. "Fair enough, Small Lady. I wish you success."

"Truly?"

"Truly, I do."

Chibi-usa smiled, tentatively, as if not quite believing her, but desperately wanting to. Makoto politely showed them to the door, nodding farewell to Diana as well, and closing the door behind them.

"I wish someone would have a damn bit of success," muttered Makoto to herself. Shrugging, she padded off towards her shower, to get ready for another busy day of palace duties to perform.

* * *

Back in her own quarters, Chibi-usa curled up in the comfortable window seat that was the sole window for her spacious rooms. Diana, long familiar with the signs, promptly hopped down into the girl's lap, and licked her chin. As if that were the signal for release, Chibi-usa began to softly cry, hugging her mooncat friend for comfort and solace. For a long while, the only sound in the room was the sobs of a lonely princess and the desperate purring of her feline friend.

Eventually, though, the sobs wore down to sniffles. Chibi-usa sat back, releasing Diana, and rubbing her wet eyes. "Well," the girl whispered, "that won't get me anywhere."

Diana sat back in the valley of the girl's crossed legs, and peered up. "What will you do, Small Lady?"

Chibi-usa looked down at her friend. "I'm not going to tell you." At Diana's surprised gasp of protest, she continued, "That way you won't get in trouble, too."

"Oh. Um, how much trouble, exactly, do you think?"

"Well... I wouldn't be surprised if they send me to the Moon outpost for a while."

Diana's eyes became very wide. "A... a while?"

The girl shrugged. "Couple of decades, I guess."

"You're right. I don't want to know."

A weak smile appeared on the not so young girl's face. "Why do you think I'm asking everyone even though I know they'll say no? At least I'll be able to say I tried everything else first."

"I see. Well," said the little mooncat, "what was that thing you did with the wall?"

"Oh, that." Chibi-usa shifted around to let her legs hang off the edge of the window seat, while Diana hopped over to sit on the cushions beside her. "I used the Silver Crystal."

"You used... _what_?"

"The Silver Crystal."

Diana stared up at her human friend. "You stole your mother's, no, Neo-Queen Serenity's royal Silver Crystal, to peep on people?"

"I didn't steal it, it's still in mother's broach. But I found out I can use it a bit without having to actually have it. And I don't peep."

"How'd you figure that out? And what we did today was definitely peeping."

Chibi-usa blushed again, remembering the scene they'd seen. "I've never seen anyone doing... being private before. I didn't think about that stuff." She sighed. "Anyway, I kind of found it accidentally. I was standing in front of my closet trying to find that white gowny thing Momma likes me to wear on formal occasions, and I thought I needed a bigger closet. I thought about asking Momma to use the Silver Crystal to make the closet bigger... as a joke, you know? But... I kind of felt the crystal from far away, like it had heard me... and the walls of the closet got bigger."

"Bigger?"

"Yeah, the crystal of the walls just moved out of the way. While it moved I felt a little tingle, like the kind I felt when I was back in the twentieth century and used the Silver Crystal with Sailor Moon. That's how I knew what it was."

"So it listens to what you wish?"

"No, it... well, sort of. I mean, it's hard to explain. What it feels like. But I don't think I could have done it before that last trip back through time. I mean, it feels different since then. The crystal, that is."

The mooncat simply looked up, stating, "I'm confused."

Chibi-usa sighed again. "Me too, really. Look, since we got back here from being back in time about a year ago, our time, well you-and-me time that is... ugh, you know what I mean! Since then the crystal has felt different. I could feel it before, especially when Momma would let me handle it once in a while, but... it's like it was listening to me, but I didn't know how to listen back. Or talk to it. But after using it with Sailor Moon, back then, when I got back here, it's like it knew I knew how to... talk to it?"

"So... before we went back, it was attuned to you, but you weren't attuned to it, yet."

The girl nodded. "That's a better way of putting it, yes."

"But you can use it without having it?"

"Well, yes. But I only dare use it when mother is doing a royal function, or she might feel it. You know she doesn't like doing those, so she's always distracted. This morning when it was time for her to do the weekly audience thing, I could get away with it."

"Ah, that's why we got up so early."

Another nod. "But I can only do crystal-type things with it at a distance. I tried to just move a cushion once," she paused, indicating with a wave of her hand the various cushions and small pillows scattered throughout the room, "and it felt way too loud, so I stopped so Momma wouldn't notice. But the walls just whisper when I move them. I guess because they're crystal like the Silver Crystal is."

Diana looked away, pondering. "So. You're going to see Lady Ami tomorrow, right?"

"Yes. Another annual exam. I don't know why they bother. I never seem to grow."

"And you'll ask Lady Ami about Hotaru?"

"Might as well, though she'll say 'no' too. Especially since Lady Makoto is sure to warn her."

"Think she'll tell her tonight?" Diana said in a strange tone.

Chibi-usa looked at her cat. "I guess... why?"

"Tonight... while they're in bed?" the mooncat said, far too innocently.

The two looked at each other for a heartbeat, then burst into giggles, which soon grew to laughter. Diana smiled inside as she watched her Princess again rub tears from her eyes, but for a much better reason this time.

Chibi-usa scooped up her feline friend. "_Bad_ kitty," she mock scolded, bringing another round of giggles from them both.

From within the girl's arms, Diana said, "I can't go with you tomorrow to the exam, can I?"

She sat back, holding the cat out and gazing into her eyes. "No, Lady Ami is strict about 'patient confidentiality' or whatever."

"Well, even if she won't answer your question directly, maybe you can still find something out. Lady Makoto didn't answer, but still told you when the order of silence was given. Maybe Lady Ami will tell you a bit more."

Chibi-usa's eyebrows rose in surprise. "That's a good idea. It would be something. Getting closer to an answer." She drew in the cat closer, almost nose to nose. "How'd you think of that?"

"Well, I am supposed to be your 'royal advisor', after all. I do have an idea now and again," said the mooncat, punctuating her statement with a quick lick to the girl's nose.

The Princess giggled again, hugging her friend to her. "Thank you, Diana. For being my friend. And advisor, of course." A gentle head-nuzzle was all the reply needed.

* * *

That night did indeed find Makoto and Ami in bed together, this time in Ami's room within the palace. Makoto was stretched out comfortably on Ami's bed, her head on a pillow propped up against the curved headboard which ran around a quarter of the circular bed. Ami was sitting up, leaning back while she reviewed paperwork from the clinic. Both women were nude beneath the covers, having long since grown accustomed to sleeping thus. Makoto's eyes were closed, as she breathed deeply and comfortably, listening to the gentle burbling of the long waterfall that endlessly cascaded on the far side of Ami's chambers.

"Relaxed?" Ami asked her lover, while still focusing on the tablet displaying the data she was reviewing. A barely audible murmur of assent was all she heard in reply.

A few minutes later, though, she felt a familiar presence slowly squirming into her lap beneath the thin covers. Drawing her attention away from the tablet, she pulled the fabric away from her lap, to reveal Makoto's grinning face peering up at her.

"I found a better pillow," Makoto said, smiling as she wiggled her head atop Ami's thighs. "Better view, too," she added, gazing up at her lover.

Ami laughed, and put aside her work materials, dumping the durable tablet and stylus in a bin placed by the bed for that purpose. She reached down and slowly caressed the side of Makoto's face.

"Wanna fool around?" Ami asked in her bedroom voice.

"Yes," was the immediate reply. "But," Makoto added, "you've had a long day, and probably a long one tomorrow. So, I'll wait."

"You sure?" Ami asked, continuing to caress the features of Makoto's face. "We haven't played in a while... maybe I want to chain down an impish young virgin to my bed here, and ravish her in ways she's never dreamed possible."

"I can play the virgin, but I can dream a whole heck of a lot," Makoto grinned up at Ami. "But... no. See, Small Lady asked me about Hotaru today."

"Ah." Ami's caresses slowed for a bit, but did not stop. "So, she left me for last, I see."

"Yes. Probably will ask you tomorrow in the exam."

"I thought she might, since it was scheduled anyway."

"Well, there's two things you should know," Makoto said, seriously, as Ami's eyebrows rose. "First, I may have slipped a bit."

Ami's eyes went wide. "You didn't...?"

"No, no, not that. Just that she thought that Serenity issued the gag order on us after she'd asked Serenity about it, and just about telling her. I told her that the order was given a few hundred years back, and covered us telling anyone, not just her. Did I screw up?" Makoto looked up, a bit worried.

"Hmm. No, I don't think so. Serenity never said we couldn't say when she said not to say anything."

Makoto frowned, thinking that sentence through to make sure she understood it; something she did occasionally in response to one of Ami's more convoluted statements. "Good then. I wanted you to know what I'd told her, for when you talk to her as well. But," Makoto paused, again looking up seriously. "Second thing is, Small Lady has something planned."

"What?"

"I don't know. I asked her, and she said she couldn't tell me, in exactly the same manner I'd just told her that I couldn't answer her question." Makoto smiled again. "Frankly, it was precisely what I deserved. From her point of view, anyway."

Ami laughed again, imaging the scene. "Well, maybe I can get something out of her."

Makoto shook her head. "No, I don't think so. She knew I was going to refuse to answer her before she asked. She knew I had to refuse. But she's asking anyway. She's methodically covering her bases, for whatever she really has up her sleeve."

The two senshi looked into each other's eyes, then said in unison, "She's acting like her mother!"

Delighted laughter filled the room, the two women shaking with helpless glee. Finally, Ami managed to get out, "Well, she's acting like her mother acted at that age, rather than the way she acts now."

"That's not all that different. And what age? She is, after all..."

Again the two said together, "... over 900 years old!" in perfect imitation of Chibi-usa's often heard refrain.

These laughs took much longer, before the two managed to subside to the occasional snort or chuckle.

"We're being mean," Ami said, with mock fierceness.

"Yeah, we are," Makoto replied, more seriously. "It's not her fault, after all. She wants to grow so much."

"Yes, she does. I try to tell her with each exam that she _is_ growing, just not very fast. She can't seem to hear me, though." Ami sighed. "Well, maybe I can distract her somehow. Give her something else to think about."

"I don't think so," Makoto solemnly stated, gazing up.

Ami just murmured, content to gaze down into Makoto's eyes, and gently glide her fingertips along her friend and lover's face and neck.

"Makoto?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I know."

The two smiled.

"Well, let's get some sleep," Ami said, waving her hand at the light source above her bed, which slowly began to dim. Makoto squirmed back up towards the headboard as Ami squirmed to lie down, the end result of which found Ami curled up, back against Makoto's front, spooned within her lover's arms, their usual sleeping positions when with each other.

As the light finally, slowly extinguished itself, Makoto placed her lips almost against Ami's ear. "Ami?" she whispered.

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I know."

Each could feel the other smile, and they held each other in the dark, gently falling into sleep.

* * *

Chibi-usa buttoned up her blouse as Ami examined various readings and results at a terminal beside the exam table on which the just-finished medical exam was done. The little Princess had long since learned that loose-fitting clothing was the best choice to wear for any of Ami's extremely thorough examinations. Hence the loose green blouse and short brown skirt were her choice for the morning.

Ami turned from the terminal, swiveling on the same type of chair that doctors have had in their offices for centuries, to face her patient. "Clean bill of health, as usual," she announced.

Chibi-usa sighed heavily. "Still no reason why I don't grow?" she asked, as she did at all of these exams.

Ami scooted closer to the exam table, taking the girl's hands as they rested in her lap to clasp them with her own. "Small Lady, as I keep telling you, you _are_ growing. Just very slowly."

The Princess' skeptical look was all too familiar to Ami, as she saw it almost every year at this time.

"Look at this... computer, holodisplay please, chart growth rate, current patient, from record begin to present." Beside the two, a dim beam was broadcast from the terminal, which displayed in front of them a chart, upon which was quickly drawn a line, which slowly increased from left to right. Ami scooted over a bit to gesture at the seemingly solid image. "See, if you look at the slope, it's exactly normal for any other human girl - just stretched out over a few hundred years."

"_Just?_" replied the girl, putting a world of complaint in a word.

It was Ami's turn to sigh. "I know. I still can't tell you why it's taking so long. Every test I've run, scan I've done, tells me you're a perfectly healthy, normal human girl. I haven't a clue as to why you're not growing at a normal rate. But I can tell you this... computer, magnify current chart, subsection from here," Ami poked a finger at place in the chart about three-quarters from the beginning, "to present." The chart obligingly expanded the specified section, to show the same line in greater detail.

"Small Lady, look here, and here," Ami said, pointing out two points on the line displayed, one almost at the end. At both points, the slope of the line increased. "Here's two places where your rate of growth has increased, this last one is from today's test. Both times, you started growing a bit faster than you had been."

"So I'm growing faster?" the girl asked, excitement and disbelief together in her voice.

"Yes. Since last exam, you've grown in height six millimeters more than the previous trend would have indicated, your breasts are a few millimeters bigger, your..."

"Millimeters?" Chibi-usa uttered in dismay.

"Yes, the charts..." Ami turned from the display to see the chagrined look on her royal patient's face. "Oh dear."

Ami scooted back, to clasp the girl's hands again. "That seems like so little, I know. But it is an increase in not just your growth, but how fast you're growing. And those times of accelerated rate of growth seem to have something in common." She directed her patient's attention to the graph once again. "See the dates when the line changed slope?"

Chibi-usa could only nod. Ami continued, "Those are the dates when you returned from visiting back in the twentieth century. Now," she said, spreading her hands, "I have no idea why that would affect anything. I noticed it after your first trip, but I wasn't prepared to conclude there was a link. With this second data point, it seems there is indeed a link. I think, Small Lady, you might need to have a talk with Lady Setsuna."

The Princess nodded again, replying, "Okay, Lady Ami, but... I assume that since you mentioned my... travels, that this is a secure room and I can talk about... court stuff?"

It was Ami's turn to nod. "Yes, a royal medical exam is as secure as the max security areas in the palace, like our individual quarters. You can speak of senshi business here."

"Well, then... just to get it over with, I guess..." The girl sighed, then continued, her gaze dropping to the floor, "Lady Ami, what happened to Hotaru? Where is Sailor Saturn? Won't you tell me? Please?" With the last word, the Princess looked up at the blue-haired doctor, her last hope of an answer.

Ami had thought out her reply in detail, and thus she replied with uncustomary formality, "I'm sorry, Princess Small Lady. By royal command of Neo-Queen Serenity, I may not speak of it, to you or to anyone not present at the time of the order."

Chibi-usa brought her fist down beside her leg, smashing against the top of the exam table. "WHY?" she cried, her frustration eclipsing her control.

Ami's face became a featureless mask, retreating further into strict formality. "Small Lady, that I think I can answer, at least partly. The command was given in part because of an absolute need to protect... something that this knowledge could harm deeply."

"What?" whispered the girl, shocked both by her own outburst and that Ami had replied even this much to her unthinking question. "The timeline, you mean?"

Ami closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again, her face again showing warmth. She scooted close to her royal patient, yet again clasping the girl's hand with her own. "Oh, no, Small Lady, it is not the timeline that we're all trying to protect. Not this time."

Ami gazed straight into Chibi-usa's eyes. "We're trying to protect _you_."

* * *

Minako exclaimed, "You told her that?"

"I had to tell her something, poor girl," Ami replied. The two, along with Rei, were meeting for lunch, something the inner senshi members tried to do each week. The group met in a very private meeting room deep within the palace, where it was safe to speak freely. One wall was devoted to a holo display, which could be set to almost any scene on the planet Earth, and selected scenes from most of the other planets at well. Today they seemed to be on a patio overlooking the Alps, with dawn dancing among the snow-covered peaks.

"That's pretty close to the edge of what we can say, Ami," Rei calmly observed.

"But not over," Ami stressed. Rei nodded in acknowledgment.

"Well, the whole thing made perfect sense at the time," said Minako, using her spoon to toy with the last bit of the pudding she'd had for dessert. "But if Small Lady really doesn't have to go back in time anymore, should we really be keeping it from her, still?"

"We probably could tell her, since timeline issues seem to be past. In as much as time issues ever really are past, of course..."

"Stay on topic, Ami," interrupted Minako. "I've heard that conversation too many times. Like Makoto says..."

The three chimed together, "I hate time travel!" They laughed at the refrain they'd heard from their teammate so often.

"Where is Makoto today, anyway?" Minako wondered.

"She's helping Serenity decide on the court's dresses for the Intercession ceremony," Rei replied. "They're leaning towards some neo-Greek toga like thing, I think. But since we're staying on topic..."

Minako stuck her tongue out at Rei, and laughed. "All right, all right. But, seriously, should we tell her, now? After so long?"

Rei shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess if it were up to me, I'd tell her, even if just so she doesn't keep snooping around and maybe get hurt. But, you know, it's not up to us. It's up to Serenity. She might change her mind as queen, or even as a senshi, but... would any mother let her daughter go through that if she didn't have to?"

"Maybe it's time that she has to," Minako stated soberly. "We're not getting anywhere. Frankly, we've failed. Utterly." Minako stared grimly at the table, as the other two senshi startled at her blunt assessment. "I'll never give up, you know that, but... maybe we have to admit that without Small Lady, nothing we do will _ever_ work."

"It might never work even with her, you know," Ami said quietly.

"And," chimed in Rei, "could you be the one to tell Serenity, 'Oh, it's just been a year since you had to let your daughter go back in time and almost die, in order to save the world, and now we want you to let her risk her life again?' I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do that to her. Could you?"

Rei looked at her fellow senshi. First the blue-haired warrior shook her head, sighing; then the blonde warrior also shook her head in the negative.

"I'll bet the others feel about the same. So," concluded Rei, "this one is out of our hands, and I'm just as glad to keep it that way."

"Unless Setsuna pulls another 'We have to protect the timeline' thing out of her hat," Minako pointed out.

"Don't remind me," Rei said, eyes rolling. "Why she won't just let us know what's coming is beyond me."

"That's probably pretty much how Small Lady is thinking about _us_ these days, you know," Ami said, smiling.

Rei opened her mouth to retort, then closed it, grimacing. "Touché," she acknowledged wryly.

The three sat in companionable silence for a bit, gazing at the mountainous beauty seemingly before them. Finally, Rei pushed back from the table, stating, "I have the usual last minute details to see to before the Intercession ceremony. The security staff doesn't really need me, but they're used to me prowling around, scowling. Say, Minako, are you ready to rotate jobs again? I've been over security for almost a century now, and it's getting a bit boring."

Minako shook her head, smiling, and replied, "No, dear, I could never pull off that look of barely contained rage like you do. It's so motivating to the staff. Besides, would you really want the ambassador stuff again? It's still just as hard as ever to be visiting schools and towns on a supposed 'please remember that us royals back in Tokyo still exist' tour, and never finding what you're really looking for."

Rei sighed, remembering. "Ah, good point. Hmm, maybe I could be a doctor for a while. How about it, Ami?"

Ami smiled, but the smile was of a predator sensing prey. "Perhaps, dear Rei. Would you care to intern under me for, oh, a century or two?"

"Um. On second thought, maybe not," replied Rei, waving her hands in emphasis. "I just remembered I'm not that masochistic."

"Too bad," Ami replied in a silky tone. "Makoto and I would love to ravish you again, all tied up in our chambers, helpless to resist."

The other two senshi looked at Ami's not quite leering face for an instant. Then all three of them laughed uproariously. Their laughter took long minutes to wind down, and Minako was clutching her sides, breathless, before they all even partly regained their composure.

"Oh. Oh, that was funny," Minako managed to get out. Ami wrinkled her nose impishly in return.

"Actually," mused Rei, as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "it has been a long time since all four of us were together. Want to get together next week? Normal or playing?"

"Sure," said Ami, "and Makoto won't have a problem, I'm sure."

"I'm in," replied Minako, who was almost breathing normally again. "We can see what everyone is in the mood for at the time."

"Okay, but no using Love-Me Chain this time!" stated Rei most emphatically.

"But, Rei," Minako said, putting on her best innocent look, "when could there ever be a better time to use it? It _is_ called 'Love-Me Chain', after all."

Rei looked at her blonde friend sternly, while Minako maintained her innocent, questioning air. Ami giggled at their antics, and finally Minako couldn't hold her laugh in anymore, joining Ami in a bout of giggling.

"Okay, Rei, if we play, we'll keep it to stuff we can break in an emergency," promised Minako. "I did apologize after that last time; I just didn't think."

"Well, it'd be my luck that you'd have me chained to the building and five systems would attack us right then and you'd all run off and forget me," grumbled Rei. "Playing is one thing, but..."

"I know, I know," Minako said as she stood to leave. "Won't happen again. But I have to get back myself soon, so I'll go on ahead now." She walked towards the apparent door from the balcony, which took her past Rei's seat. As her first steps brought her next to Rei, she paused, leaning down towards her friend. "But, Rei," Minako said softly into Rei's ear, "you know we'd never forget you, love." Ami, looking at the two of them, nodded in agreement, even that soft statement reaching her ears.

Rei found that even after all these years, she could still blush a bit. "I know," she said softly in return, reaching up to squeeze the hand of her friend and fellow senshi.

Minako squeezed back, then took her leave, waving at Ami as she left the room.

Rei began to stand, ready to make her own departure, when Ami said, "One more thing." Rei resumed sitting, looking at her friend inquisitively.

"Makoto is pretty sure that Small Lady has something planned," Ami stated. She relayed to Rei the jist of the conversation that the two had had in Makoto's quarters, as later told to her by Makoto.

"Hmm," Rei said thoughtfully, "but no idea exactly what she might be up to."

Ami nodded, adding, "I just thought you should know."

"I'm not sure if Small Lady is the most likely person to change Serenity's mind, or the least likely. I'm also not sure if I wish her success, or not. Like I said earlier, I'm staying out of it," Rei stated, getting up from her chair at last.

"I don't see anything else we can do, anyway," said Ami, also standing.

The two friends walked out of the room, again in companionable silence, each on their way to resume their daily duties. The room, registering their departure, flickered as the illusion of the Alps was halted, and returned to being an ordinary meeting room again, waiting in the darkness.

* * *

"That should be fine, thank you," Chibi-usa said to the nervous hairdresser who had just completed styling the Princess' hair for the Intercession ceremony. The Princess looked again at her image in the mirror that she sat before, and nodded in approval. Her pink hair was done up in the usual royal odango style, with tails of hair trailing down from them. She was dressed in today's assigned ladies' court dress, a neo-Grecian tunic style that was light and easy to move in. Her own tunic was white, her and her mother's commonly used color for official ceremonies; all the ladies of the court had their standard colors, which the public were well used to seeing. The public, of course, did not know those colors derived from each ladies' senshi uniform, as their being senshi was only recalled by historians reading dusty manuscripts in the royal library.

Chibi-usa sighed in relief as the fussy hairdresser finally was satisfied with her work, and departed the Princess' quarters. Diana, currently perched off to the side on the window seat, sighed as well, and stretched luxuriously in a friendly sunbeam coming in through the window.

"She was a nervous one," Diana commented, stating the obvious.

Chibi-usa nodded absentmindedly, adding "Well, she'll probably get a job here at the palace for a few decades if they think she did a good job."

"She did do a good job. You look nice today." Diana jumped down from the window seat, padded over to the table that her royal charge sat in front of, and leaped atop it. Chibi-usa didn't respond, but just continued to look at her image in the mirror, a bit mournfully.

Diana looked at the girl, cocking her head to the side in puzzlement. "You really do look nice. But you seem... sad...?"

Chibi-usa shifted her gaze from her reflection to her friend. "I'm just... not really looking forward to today's ceremony."

A voice from the open doorway asked, "Any particular reason why not?" Chibi-usa and Diana turned, to see Luna pad her way into the Princess' room. Luna nodded to Chibi-usa, who nodded in return.

As Luna leaped up to join her daughter atop the vanity, Chibi-usa answered, "No... just another ceremony where I basically just sit there and don't do anything."

"Ah," said Luna, padding over to Diana's side of the tabletop, and absentmindedly starting to groom her daughter. "Well," she got out between licks, "it's important that you be there, with all the rest of the court, and your parents, of course."

Chibi-usa's mouth twitched slightly at the sight of Diana's face as she strove to be stoic under her mother's utterly unwanted grooming. "Yes, of course, Luna, but I don't actually do anything, while everyone else is usually running around."

"They're mostly running around for show, you know. All but two of the cases have been decided already, and in those your mother is just waiting to make sure the person gets a chance to tell their side." Luna's grooming was only briefly interrupted by this statement. Diana silently pleaded with her eyes for her human friend to rescue her.

With a look of '_you owe me_' towards her advisor, Chibi-usa asked, "If everything is decided, what's the point of having the ceremony, then?"

Luna turned away from Diana to address the Princess, to Diana's obvious relief. "To make it obvious that the Neo-Queen is personally intervening in these cases, as the citizens are requesting. You see," at which words, both the Princess and her advisor knew Luna had entered full lecture mode, as they knew she would, "the whole idea of the Intercession is that no matter how well-run the various government agencies are, there are some situations that just can't be resolved according to the rules or laws, and still be a just outcome. So every citizen has the right to request that the Neo-Queen Intercede for them, and if need be overrule any other agency or legal court's judgment. And her decision is of course final."

"Well then why is everyone running around on the throne platform then if everything's decided?" Chibi-usa wondered, playing along.

"Because your mother generally has one of the ladies of the court make sure her decision is implemented immediately, or is seen to be asking their advice; and they are going about talking to officials to make sure the citizen is telling the whole story in their plea, and that the officials are running around because your mother is making them hop to it. It's not just that things are being put right, or as right as they can be, but that everyone sees it being put right."

"So it's all fake?" Chibi-usa asked, surprised and a bit outraged.

"No, it's all real; the work was just mostly done before the ceremony, with your mother overriding or correcting where needed. It's considered less than desirable for an issue to get up to an Intercession level, so most requests are worked out with citizens whenever possible. But some things are just too complicated, or the citizen is too stubborn, and so eventually it gets up to the Queen. And every citizen has the right to be heard, so no Intercession is officially settled until she decides, which is officially at the ceremony even though every side of things has been thoroughly hashed out for years before it gets this far." Luna paused, glancing back at her daughter, who had slowly moved back on the vanity to escape notice.

"Uh, so people can only apply in advance to have their plea heard, then?" Chibi-usa hurriedly spoke, to divert Luna again.

"Pretty much. In the early years people just walked up and presented their case, but no one has done that for hundreds and hundreds of years. They found out it's a good way to get smacked down. The government staff is there in the first place so that we don't have to do everything; people should use it instead of bothering the royal court all the time."

"Hmm," Chibi-usa looked away, as if finally bored with the topic. "At least all the activity up there means it's okay to take a bathroom break once in a while."

Luna laughed. "Yes, your mother made that rule long, long ago. She said if she had to sit up on a silly throne all day, she sure wasn't going to do it with a full bladder!"

The three laughed, imagining the Queen saying exactly that. Luna jumped down from the vanity, and moved towards the door, saying, "It's almost time. I'll see you both there?"

"Actually, why don't you spend today with your family, Diana?" Chibi-usa said casually. "It's a bit boring being up there all day, and if you're not with me maybe you can slip away early with them, like I've seen them do sometimes before."

Luna coughed, having been caught out, while Diana began to protest, "But I don't mind sitting with you..."

"No, Diana, it's okay, I don't mind. No need for both of us to be seen up there, and I'm sure you'd like to be with your family today," Chibi-usa stated, gazing at Diana with peculiar intensity as the last words were spoken.

"Ah... okay, Small Lady. As you wish, of course," Diana got out, sounding a bit hurt, but gazing back at the Princess with wide eyes.

Chibi-usa smiled then, saying softly, "I'll see you later, then," as Diana hopped from the vanity top to follow her mother out of the room and down the hall.

"She seems a bit out of sorts," said Luna as the two padded along, dodging between the feet of the increasing number of staff going to and fro.

"Yes, she's been a bit down lately," Diana replied. "I'm sure she'll get over it soon."

Luna simply nodded, turning her attention to the ceremony ahead. Diana followed her mother, hiding the thought that kept running through her mind: "_Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit_."

Back in her quarters, Chibi-usa looked at her reflection in the mirror glumly. Sighing, she got up from her chair, and went to her closet, reaching way in the back to drag out a small satchel. Taking it with her, she walked to the doorway, paused, and turned back to look at her chambers. She moved her gaze slowly around, as if drinking in the sight and committing it to memory. Then she turned to the hallway and left, shutting the door firmly behind her.

Chibi-usa walked away from her rooms toward the ceremony. She did not look back.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Intercession Ceremony was held in the usual place, the Outer Throne Pavilion. This was distinct from the Main Throne Room, where the actual Crystal Throne was at, and which was used for more formal occasions. The Pavilion had the advantage of having a ceiling and walls that could be manipulated to various sizes, or removed altogether to permit direct access to the grounds and the gardens surrounding that side of the palace. For today's ceremony, the ceiling and walls were indeed removed, due to the larger than normal number of citizens attending, to both participate and to bear witness.

With the outside brought inside, as it were, the royal court was seated upon a level, raised area at one end. This stage-like half-ellipse area looked similar to an open shell, with the curved walls behind it designed to assist the acoustics within the room. The Outer Throne, a rather plain, almost block-like seat where Neo-Queen Serenity was sitting, was placed in the very focus of the ellipse-shaped stage, with another identical throne directly to its left where King Endymion sat. A smaller though similar seat was to the throne's right and back a few paces, where Princess Small Lady was seated. Behind them, in a semi-circle, were the rest of the court, sitting in ornate chairs that were carved in motifs reflecting each Lady's associated planet, although the true meaning of that association had faded away from the public mind centuries ago. Beside each chair was placed a small desk, to hold work papers or tablets, reference material, or food and drink from the long buffet table off to the right of the stage area. As the event usually lasted most of the day, it was expected that anyone could discreetly choose a bite to eat whenever they chose, as not everyone was to be involved in every case during the Intercession. The Queen had long felt that the lack of strict pomp and circumstance helped make the event seem more casual and inviting to the citizens coming to have their cases heard. (That this permitted the Queen herself to snack was firmly not remarked upon.) To the left side of the stage were equally long work tables, where numerous staff workers busied about, checking and double-checking the details of the cases to appear, or the arrangements of the ceremony, or in some cases just to look important by being a small part of the ceremony itself.

Down the five steps from the stage was what normally would be the hall area, had the ceiling and walls been in place. Without them, it was a wide stretch of grassy area, spreading out towards the gardens on either side. Standing columns marked where the walls of the long hall usually were, only enhancing the effect of bringing the outside indoors. For the ceremony, work tables had been placed on the left, with additional buffet tables on the right. There was plenty of room for people to move among them on either side, for those assisting in the cases and for those who had been permitted to attend the event in person - a smattering of government officials from various places around the globe, as well as a few willing citizens chosen at random to represent the rest of the citizens of Earth. Holo uplinks were placed so that anyone not present could view the entire proceedings from almost anywhere on the planet, or at the outposts throughout the solar system.

At the far end was placed a doorway, with a small hallway curving away behind it. This is where the applicants for Intercession would wait and then begin to enter, each halting out of sight while the ceremonial doorman announced them. Then they would come around the final bit of curve, slowly walk to the center area in front of the throne, bow or curtsy, and present their case. Out of respect, everyone present was expected not to move about either on the stage or the hall while each citizen presented their summary of their case. But after that, when the usual questions were asked either by the Queen or King, or a Lady of the court, or in some cases a government official responsible for the area affected by the citizen's claims, people were free to move about quietly if they wished.

It was all very organized, very open, a bit informal but still respectful, and the room and gardens were beautiful. The people were focused on the task at hand, and serious in their duties, but an atmosphere of lightness prevailed both among the members of the court and the citizens in the hall itself. The issues to be settled were serious, but they would actually be settled, as the process was designed to do. The attitude of the Queen and King themselves set the tone, as each judgment of a citizen's pleading was delivered gently, especially those that went against a citizen's request; though under no obligation to do so, usually the Queen herself explained the reasons why the decision had been made as it had been.

A fine example of a ruler, her court, and her government being as responsive to the people as could possibly be, even the holoviewers from around the world would agree. And to judge from the expression and posture of Princess Small Lady, utterly boring.

Anyone paying attention to the Princess would see a young lady valiantly doing her duty. She was suitably attentive while each citizen was announced by name and profession, and while they stated their case. Only during the question period did her attention seem to wander, as the clerks on the stage went quickly to and fro, and the court members arrayed behind her were consulted, or strode past her to give advice in low voices to the Queen and King. She patiently waited, only rarely getting up to visit the buffet or the restroom facilities located handily just offstage, and certainly not more than anyone else did. She carefully listened as her mother, or sometimes her father, pronounced and explained each decision. Yet anyone could also see the young Princess was bored to the core. So bored, in fact, that anyone paying attention would just as quickly stop paying attention and let their view go elsewhere among the participants.

At least, so the Princess hoped. As she put on her display of fighting off boredom, no one that Chibi-usa could see around was paying her the slightest attention other than a brief glance here and there. Everyone was busy playing their own roles, she supposed. It was only during one of her few trips to the buffet tables that she noticed Diana, Luna, and Artemis sitting underneath them. Diana was sitting a bit apart from her parents, watching her royal charge closely. With just a wordless glance between them, the little mooncat communicated quite clearly to the Princess that she, at least, wasn't fooled at all.

So it was that by the late afternoon, and as the next-to-last citizen to plead for Intercession was answering questions put to her by the Queen and by Lady Minako, no one but Diana noticed when Small Lady slipped quietly towards the area of the restrooms. So intent was Diana on keeping track of Small Lady, that not even she noticed when a few minutes later, while the citizen was answering a question from Lady Minako, the Queen tilted her head slightly, as if hearing a faint noise off in the distance. But the Queen quickly returned her attention to the discussion.

After the Queen, gently as ever, announced the decision of the case in that citizen's favor, and the citizen gratefully bowed and was led away by the ceremonial ushers, the young Princess had still not returned. However, no one other than one small mooncat appeared to notice, as traditionally the last Intercession of the day was reserved for less than serious requests. (Although it was officially denied that such cases were selected for any kind of humorous reasons, many analysts had remarked over the years of the statistically improbable overrepresentation of last-of-the-day cases dealing in some manner with sheep.) So the relief of the participants at the ceremony nearing its end, and the anticipation of the rest of the crowd to see what the last Intercession would be, acted to make one empty chair on the stage unremarkable.

As the Royal Doorman announced "Yohan Buchanan, sheepherder" and as Mr. Buchanan strode confidently into the grassy hall to plead his case concerning the proper boundary lines between his and his neighbor's pasture lands, the crowd did not laugh. That would be disrespectful and improper, of course. But a few chits discreetly changed hands in the crowd, and the faces of everyone on stage grew a bit lighter. The Queen spared a glance towards the King, who wore a deliberately innocent look on his face. Smiling, the Queen listened to the last case of the day, asked a few questions, and rendered the verdict that the two neighbors would share the disputed land on alternate years for the next three decades.

As Mr. Buchanan was led away, with his mixed feelings on the verdict plain for all to see, the Queen sat up straighter on the Outer Throne, and prepared to ritually end the ceremony with the usual short speech. Only to be cut short by the Royal Doorman, who quietly but clearly said from the door of the hallway at the other end of the hall, "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but another citizen has stepped forward, beseeching you to hear a plea for Intercession."

* * *

Chibi-usa stood just inside the doorway, near to the Royal Doorman as he interrupted the Queen. She was still panting slightly from her frantic journey from the stage to where she now stood. First having changed clothes inside the small bathroom, the small satchel with the change of clothes having been hidden inside the wall earlier. Then going out through the wall out of view of the stage (a terrible risk by using the crystal when so near), and a rapid run through the palace, out a side door that led deep into the gardens, and then running along the manicured paths to reach the small temporary Intercession hall before the last petitioner had finished.

Getting the Doorman to say another person was present for Intercession had proved even more difficult than she'd thought, though. In whispered voices, they'd argued back and forth, with only the promise that any punishment would fall only on her, and the threat of how much worse it would be if she walked out without him announcing her, finally convinced the Doorman it would be better to go along with whatever mad scheme the little Princess had cooked up this time.

Chibi-usa heard Lady Rei speak from the stage, saying "Doorman, this is highly irregular. A citizen should go through the proper procedures to have their cases heard. Please send whoever it is off, to do things as required. We can hear their plea in a future ceremony."

Prepared for that argument, Chibi-usa hastily took a piece of parchment from the pocket of her skirt, and beckoning urgently to the Doorman, thrust it into his hands with a hurriedly whispered explanation.

"Um," said the Doorman in reply to Lady Rei, clearly uncomfortable, "this citizen claims that under the Intercession Ceremony rules, specifically..." he referred to the parchment he'd been handed, "section six, article fifteen, subsection two-dash-three, that a citizen 'may request a plea be heard immediately at any Intercession when physically present'. Forgive me, I do not know if this is valid or not..." he trailed off, glanced again at Chibi-usa in her position hidden from the view of everyone else, and gulped, shrugging his shoulders.

There was a pause. Then Chibi-usa could hear Lady Ami quietly state, "It seems to be perfectly valid, Your Majesty, if not used in hundreds of years."

The Princess then heard her mother state, in a clear tone of disapproval, "Very well, but know that we do not look with favor on this method, valid though it be, and this clause will most certainly be changed before the next Intercession. Knowing this, does the citizen still wish to come forward immediately?"

At the Doorman's glance in her direction, Chibi-usa nodded emphatically, and gestured at him yet again. As he drew close, and still out of sight of the court, she whispered in his ear, "Announce me as this, please. Please," and thrust a final piece of parchment into the Doorman's hand.

The poor man, caught up in this exchange, shuffled back to stand before the court, and said, "The citizen still wishes to be heard, Your Majesty."

She could hear the Queen sigh, and say, "Then announce them and let them approach. Quickly."

The Doorman glanced again towards Chibi-usa in the hallway, and raised the parchment in his hand, as if to confirm its use. At another nod from the Princess, he stepped forward into the hall, as he had done with all the days' announcements, and reading quite deliberately from the parchment, said loudly, "Usagi Tsukino, citizen of Earth."

Chibi-usa, at last, stepped around the corner of the hallway, and into the court.

Just as she had chosen to be announced under the version of her name she used in her trips to the twentieth century, shorn of all titles and positions, so too was her dress now devoid of any stamp of royal position. Her hair was no longer in the royal odango style, but brushed simply to fall loosely down her back. Gone was the royal toga she had worn earlier, and now she was dressed in what only those on stage could possibly recognize as a school uniform from twentieth century Japan.

As the Princess walked slowly and gravely towards the stage, acutely aware that a good portion of the planet was probably watching her every move, she could see Lady Makoto speak a quiet word to one of the staff on the stage. In seconds, all staff and officials were off the stage, quickly ushered into the back, leaving only the royal court on their thrones and their chairs. The crowd slowly quieted, their shock at seeing this unscheduled applicant turning out to be the Princess ebbing away in the face of the reaction from those left on the stage. All of whom were now sitting in obvious stony silence.

Chibi-usa reached the spot where applicants were to stand. She slowly and gracefully performed a full curtsey, holding her pose at the bottom of the bend until she heard her mother softly say, "Rise." She rose, at last looking up at her parents and the rest of the court, and though inside she quailed at the stern looks of vast disapproval that she saw there, outwardly she gave no sign. Seemingly calm and collected, Chibi-usa waited for permission to speak.

The Queen paused, seemingly unwilling to hear whatever the applicant before her might say. But after a just a few very long seconds, the Queen gave the ritual permission, saying "We will hear the applicant's plea."

Chibi-usa bowed her head, saying "Thank you, Your Majesty." She then began the speech she'd been rehearsing for many days in preparation for this moment.

"Your Majesties, and Ladies of the Royal Court, over the past few weeks I have asked each of you a particular question. I will not repeat that question here," she added quickly, to forestall the looks of alarm that appeared on all their faces, "but I believe you know the question I am referring to." She paused, as several grave nods from those above her acknowledged that they knew precisely what she referred to.

"Each of you to whom I asked this question, refused to answer me, by order of the Queen. I do not know the reason for that order. I do not know if whatever that reason is, it is still valid. I can only..."

"Your Majesty," interrupted Lady Rei, as she stood from her chair and stepped forward, "this matter concerns an issue of the security and safety of the realm. Such issues are explicitly excluded from Intercession."

The Queen nodded to Lady Rei in acknowledgment, then turned back to the applicant before her. "Lady Rei has a point, um... 'citizen of Earth'. Although you could not know it when you asked, the security of the realm is a factor in the order I gave. Is your request for Intercession really for me to rescind my own order on this matter?"

Chibi-usa, abandoning her prepared words, said, "Not entirely, Your Majesty. I well understand the need for discretion when it comes to the security of the realm. However, as one of the individuals directly affected by that security, I ask to be included in those entrusted with this specific information."

Lady Rei snorted derisively. "Why should we change things that have been working well thus far?"

Chibi-usa calmly responded, still looking at her mother, "I can but beseech Your Majesty to change her mind," and curtsied low once again. But this time, as she rose, the Princess shifted her stance, her feet at shoulder width. A twist of her wrist, and a small pen dropped into her hand from her long sleeve. She held the pen so that all on stage could see precisely what it was, and began moving her arms in a certain pattern, freezing in place before the pose known to all on stage was completed. The pose of a sailor senshi about to transform.

At once, to all on stage, the only ones on the globe who would recognize the stance the Princess held before them now, did her choice of schoolgirl sailor uniform become clear, as it referenced the other sailor uniform that was within moments of being disclosed. The girl was as much as shouting at them, "Tell me what happened to Hotaru, or I transform in front of the entire planet right now, not only reminding the world what you are, but announcing that I'm a senshi too!"

On stage, every eye widened in shock. Lady Rei, still standing, began to sputter. Lady Michiru and Lady Haruka had lost their detached look and were leaning ever so slightly forward, preparing to launch themselves at the Princess to stop Chibi-usa's threatened action. Even Lady Minako was leaning forward, as if preparing to launch a chain towards the disobedient scalawag who dared rebel against an order of the throne. The King's face was as a thunderstorm about to break.

"Hold."

The single word, merely spoken, not shouted, stopped everyone utterly, as the Queen who spoke it also raised her hand, to halt events. It was not the volume of the word, but the clear ringing tone of command, that caused all the senshi leaning forward to sit back deep into their seats, that caused Lady Rei to almost stumble back into her own chair, and caused every single person standing in the grassy hallway to kneel as one before their Queen.

Every person, save the Queen's daughter, who though it took everything within her, remained upright and ready to transform.

Neo-Queen Serenity gazed down at her daughter for a long moment. Then, with a little sigh, she did something utterly unprecedented for any royal ceremony: she stood up and walked down the steps.

As she went down towards her daughter, the Queen impatiently said to the crowd, "Oh, stand up already," which the crowd obeyed, almost fearfully.

The Queen reached the bottom step, and continued onto the grass, not stopping until she had almost reached the Princess. When she did stop, she was careful to leave a few meters between them.

The Queen looked pointedly at the pen in her daughter's hand, then at her daughter, raising an eyebrow in question. Chibi-usa shrugged. The Queen, nodding slightly, closed her eyes and sighed again.

Then the Queen opened her eyes, and addressed the assembled crowd. "Our daughter has come before us in the guise of a mere 'citizen of Earth', seeking an Intercession. We understand why she has done so, for she did not want to seem to be using her position in an undue manner. That is to her credit," the Queen paused to nod in the direction of the Princess, "but although she is indeed a citizen of Earth, she is other things besides, and those may not be lightly set aside. So as strange as it may seem, we do not see a single applicant for Intercession before us. We see three. So three answers to the request must be given."

While the crowd, and not a few on the stage, puzzled over this, the Queen continued, "Usagi Tsukino, will you hear all three answers before you... react?" Another glance at the pen in her daughter's hand made the meaning clear, and Chibi-usa dropped again into a perfect curtsey while softly saying, "Yes, Your Majesty". This time, upon rising from the curtsey, the girl stood again in a normal pose, but with the transformation pen pointedly still in her grasp.

"Very well," continued the Queen. "To the first person before me, Usagi Tsukino, 'citizen of Earth', we must remind you, and all who listen, that although we strive ever to have a government that is as open as can be, still there are some matters which for the protection of all must remain secret. We keep the list of secrets as short as can be, but things like our military preparations in case of attack, or the security of the royal persons and court here in the Crystal Palace, must not be widely known. Thus while the Intercession is to help even the highest levels of our government to be as open and responsive to the people as can be, the security exemption is in place to protect those few secrets. Your question, 'citizen of Earth', all unbeknownst to you, touches directly upon one of those areas. So the first answer to your request, citizen, must be 'No'."

Chibi-usa, feeling the eyes of her mother and of the crowd upon her, sighed, and nodded her understanding of the reply given to her.

"You are not only a citizen, though. You are my daughter. And every mother will understand us when we say that sometimes a child in all innocence asks for a thing that could be hurtful, and a mother will always seek to protect her children. Even when perhaps the time for protection is long past, and the child is old and wise, still will we protect them. So, as every mother on Earth would do were they able, our second answer to you, my daughter, is also 'No'."

Chibi-usa felt her face grow red, embarrassment and anger warring upon it at the reference to being a child. The pen twitched in her grasp.

"Wait," the faintest of whispers, came across the air to Chibi-usa's ears, the soft sound of her mother's voice, pitched to carry to her and no farther. Swallowing tightly, failing not to frown, the Princess nodded briefly.

The Queen gazed on her daughter's face for a few moments. It seemed as though everyone present was holding their breath, waiting for her next words. After a few moments that felt like days, the Queen sighed again, and continued.

"To Usagi Tsukino, citizen, we must say no. To Princess Small Lady Usagi, our daughter, we choose to say no. But there is another position you hold, another title you bear. You are Heir to the Throne of Crystal Tokyo. While we hope your ascension to that throne will be far, far in the future, it might be tomorrow. If so, you must be ready, and there is knowledge you must have.

"But," the Queen continued, "though the knowledge is required, it comes not without cost, nor is it anything but a burden. We have not carried this burden alone, but shared it with all of the Royal Court. So it is only fitting that, before we give the final answer to your request, we ask all of the court to answer this question: Is it time to share the burden?"

The Queen turned, to face the rather stunned members of the court, sitting above her on the stage. "Please, stand in turn, and answer. We ask not if our heir is ready, nor if she is fit to pay the price; we know this already. We ask, 'is it time'? As all share the burden, all should agree."

The senshi on stage hesitated, but did not dare to even glance at each other, knowing the eyes of the world were surely on them. Falling back on their habitual order, Lady Amy, sitting on one end of their semi-circle of chairs, rose to respond first. Lady Amy, looking kindly at the Princess below, spoke only the single word, "Yes."

As Lady Amy sat again, Lady Minako rose in her turn. Again the single word, "Yes."

Lady Rei stood, but then paused, also looking down at the Princess before the stage. Chibi-usa felt it as an eternity, but eventually an almost begrudged "Yes" came from Lady Rei.

"Yes," came quickly from Lady Makoto, as she stood but briefly, as if to make up the time that Lady Rei had taken.

To little surprise, Lady Michiru and Lady Haruka stood as one to reply. "Yes," came from both.

As Lady Michiru and Lady Haruka returned to their seats, Lady Setsuna rose. Even the crowd, though not understanding, could feel the sudden tension among all of the royal court. Chibi-usa knew that Aunt Puu would protect the timeline at any cost, even if that meant public rejection of her. Setsuna did not look at the Princess, though, but at the Queen, as she answered softly, "It is time. Yes."

As Lady Setsuna resumed her seat, the Queen turned her gaze to the King. "My love?" the Queen asked, not needing to say more.

The King did not stand, but just looked at his daughter, and at his wife, mixed pride and sorrow warring on his face. Finally, he said gently, "I'm sorry, love. I know what you want me to say, but it is time, I'm afraid. So... yes."

The Queen closed her eyes, and nodded to her husband. Again she sighed, deeply, and turned back to her daughter, seeing her eyes filling with a barely-dared hope.

"Very well," the Queen said, softly, the words coming with difficulty. The Queen turned from her daughter then, and addressed the crowd, and the world. "Let the word go forth; in one week, there shall be what we have not done in some time. A Bacchanalia shall be held, where everyone around the globe takes a holiday from the everyday chores and tasks, and we of the royal court draw apart from the world, to rest a bit from our duties and renew our bonds of friendship and family with each other. For the first time," she added, turning back to the Princess before her, "you, Princess Small Lady Usagi, shall join us in our repast. And there, you will have the answer you have sought."

The crowd cheered, the week-long worldwide holiday a vastly welcome surprise. Chibi-usa felt tears at the corners of her eyes, and she again curtseyed to her mother, slipping the transformation pen away as she did so. Neo-Queen Serenity smiled sadly at her daughter, then turned and went back up the stairs, taking her husband's hand at the top as he rose to greet her.

As the Queen quickly announced the ceremony to be over, Chibi-usa rose from her curtsey, expecting one of the ceremonial ushers to be there to guide her away. Instead Lady Rei was there, waiting, with a face of stone.

"Come," was all Lady Rei said to the Princess, in a tone of ice. Chibi-usa blanched, and nodded. She followed as Lady Rei marched away from where the other applicants had been taken, moving around the stage towards the side steps back towards the heart of the palace. Upon reaching the section of stage where the buffet tables were, Lady Rei paused, looking under the table at a small mooncat. A mooncat trying to be even smaller, as she almost cowered under the blazing gazes of both her parents. "You'd best come too," Lady Rei said to Diana, still without the slightest bit of warmth in her voice. Almost gratefully, Diana immediately leaped from under the table to quickly alight upon Chibi-usa's shoulder.

In silence, the three marched off, Lady Rei leading the way back into the palace proper. Arriving at the room she sought, she gestured the Princess and her advisor inside, closing the door firmly behind her.

Finding the room to be an ordinary meeting room, Chibi-usa sank down into one of the chairs at the end of the large conference table, Diana still perched on her shoulder. Lady Rei ignored the two, only speaking softly to the room computer to verify that security fields were in place for private conversation. Then she took a seat across the table from the Princess, and the stony look fell from her face.

"So, this was your plan?" Rei asked, a bit of warmth returning to her voice. The Princess could only nod in reply.

"Well. I don't know whether to spank you for a week or hug you for a month," Rei said, amused and annoyed in equal measure.

"Diana didn't know what I was going to do," Chibi-usa said quickly, ready to take all the blame.

"If you send her to the moon, I'm going with her," Diana added, jumping to defend her friend.

Rei laughed. "You're not being sent to the moon. Either of you."

"Oh. That's good." The Princess paused, expecting the fire senshi to say more, but she simply remained quiet, looking at the pair.

"Um... so, what... now?" Chibi-usa finally had to ask.

"Right now, we're waiting for your mother," Rei said, just as the door to the room opened, and both the Queen and King rushed inside.

Before she knew what was happening, Chibi-usa found her mother kneeling on the floor before the chair she'd been sitting in, hugging her tightly in her arms. Both burst into tears, as they clung to each other. King Endymion, taken aback, glanced first at Diana, now sitting on the table where she'd leapt, then at Rei, who only shrugged in response.

"I'm sorry mama, I didn't want to do that, I'm sorry," the Princess managed to get out between sobs.

At that, the Queen gave a teary snort, and drew away from her daughter enough to look her in the face. "But you did it anyway, didn't you?" the Queen said pointedly.

Chibi-usa could only nod. With a small growl of exasperation, Serenity mock-shook her daughter slightly, as if she was torn between hugging her more and throttling her. Then she drew the girl back into a hug, holding her tightly.

"I'm not mad," Serenity said, "and I understand why. I really do understand. But please... please..." Chibi-usa looked up over her mother's shoulder as her father leaned in and finished verbalizing the thought, "... don't _ever_ do that again."

"At least not in public," added Rei wryly.

Chibi-usa pulled back from her mother's embrace. "I'm sorry," she said again, "but I had to get your attention. I have to know what happened to Hotaru. I just have to." The little Princess gazed at her mother, and then up at her father, and back.

Her mother sighed, and ran her thumb across her child's face, to rub off some of the tears. "I guess I know that, now. Well, in a week, you'll know." The Queen shook herself slightly, and rose to her feet, adding, "But we need to talk about this week to come, and quickly."

Rei reached across the table, handing Serenity some tissues. "Damage control?" she asked.

"Damage control," the Queen confirmed, taking the tissues and wiping at her own tears. "Now then," she added, turning back to her daughter, "I'm not mad. You're not being punished. But, for the next week, you need to act like you are."

"Act...?" Chibi-usa repeated, confused.

"Dear," said her father, "for the next week, no eating meals with us. You'll have them in your room alone." At a sound from Diana, who was still sitting on the table, he added, "Well, alone except for Diana. Stay in your rooms most of the time, except for official appointments, and when you do move through the halls, both of you need to look like you're afraid of a terrible fate that could fall on you at any moment."

Chibi-usa glanced at Diana. "I think we can do that, papa."

As the King smiled, the Queen added, "While you do that, the rest of us will be spreading hints and lies, starting with this silly post-ceremony party thing we have to go to. I'm afraid we're going to have to make it seem like I made the whole thing out there seem dramatic just to coddle a silly little princess who asked a silly little question that she really shouldn't know a thing about."

At the indignant look that began to form on the Princess' face, Rei added sharply, "We all know that isn't true, Small Lady. _We _don't think that. But we need to make everyone _else_ think we think that."

"But why..." began Chibi-usa, only to be cut off gently by her father's reply, "In a week, you'll understand."

Chibi-usa could only nod.

Serenity drew a deep breath, and let it out explosively. "Right. Oh, and Rei, do your usual grumpy act for the week. And help me fix my face so I don't look a fright at this party."

Rei, smiling, got up from her chair and went over to the Queen. "Got it. I'll stomp around and look like I want to kill someone. Specifically, you," she added, looking at the Princess, who went a bit pale again. Rei chuckled, "Don't worry, Small Lady, it's just an act; but if we do run into each other, run away from me, okay?"

Chibi-usa again only nodded, as Rei turned back to the Queen and began to attend to the repair of her tear-streaked face. The two women spoke softly to each other, in fragments, as they fussed, "... did I remember all the royal 'we's and 'us's, this time?" "Yes, Serenity, you did fine..." "... why do I have to say all that stuff, it's just me..." "... it's tradition they expect it from you..." "... oh foo..."

The King came to kneel beside his daughter, reaching up to wipe away the tracks of tears from the other side of her face. "Remember," he said quietly, "you're not being punished, it's just an act. Everyone will look very mad or disappointed in you or whatever, but it's just a game, okay?"

"Okay, papa," she said softly. Endymion smiled again, and kissed her on the forehead.

"We have to go," Serenity said, clearly wishing otherwise. The King sighed, but rose, and took his wife's hand. The two looked deep into each other's eyes.

"I guess we can't get out of this one, can we?" the Queen asked wistfully.

"No. It's rumor spreading time, so we have to start immediately, love," regretfully replied the King. They both sighed, then smiled at each other's reluctance.

"Go already!" prompted Rei, making shooing motions at the pair. "I'll shepherd Small Lady back to her rooms; you two go play annoyed monarchs."

Both rolling their eyes at Rei's exhortations, the two headed off out of the room.

Rei turned to the Princess, and gestured at her to rise. "Come on, you two, I'll march you to your rooms. Remember, I'll look like I'm ready to kill you, and both of you should look like you're afraid I will."

Diana jumped back up onto Chibi-usa's shoulder, and the Princess rose to join Rei as they prepared to march down the halls. As they stood before the door, Rei moving to be behind them, Diana said quietly almost into Chibi-usa's ear, "It's okay; we're not really about to suffer a terrible fate."

"You won't know that for another week," said Rei quietly, in sudden seriousness. "Sometimes the most terrible fate of all is to get exactly what you asked for."

Thus the Princess and her mooncat advisor had no problem at all looking extremely morose indeed, as a seemingly murderous Lady Rei escorted them to the Princess' chambers.

* * *

The week had passed with excruciating slowness, of course, and the final night before the Bacchanalia found Chibi-usa and Diana alone in the Princess' chambers. All around them the palace had bustled with preparations for what to the staff was a coming holiday, while the two had mostly remained confined, as ordered. The restrictions and the waiting had chafed the little Princess' patience to the extreme, and this last night found her sitting up in bed, knowing there was no hope of her sleeping. Even Diana, with a cat's normal good sense at being able to sleep whenever possible, was perfectly awake.

So when the soft knock came at her chamber door, Chibi-usa immediately said "Come in" without thinking, supposing it was some staff member come to check on her for something. To her surprise, it was her mother that walked through the door, closing it behind her.

Serenity's hair was down, flowing down her shoulders almost to the floor, and she was dressed in a simple nightgown. Luna was perched on her shoulder. She came further inside her daughter's room, and Chibi-usa could see that she was carrying a book with her.

"Mama?" said Chibi-usa, not sure why her mother would be here on this last night of her pretend ostracization.

"I don't suppose you can sleep tonight," her mother said quietly. "I thought perhaps I could come and read you a bedtime story, like I did when you were little."

Chibi-usa's mouth opened, the words of protest that she was far too old for that hanging on her lips. But her mother had such a look of wistful longing, that the words would not come to the girl. So she nodded, and pulled back the covers for her mother to join her.

Luna jumped from the Queen's shoulder onto the headboard of the bed, as Serenity climbed in and got situated under the covers. Diana joined her mother on the headboard to make room.

"I know you're really too old for this, Usagi," her mother said, draping an arm around her child and drawing her close to her side, "but I was feeling... nostalgic, I suppose. Thank you for indulging me."

"It's okay, mama. This is nice. I... I've missed this," the Princess said, realizing as she spoke the words that it was true. She'd noticed her mother calling her by her first name, of course, but given her mother's unusual mood she decided not to ask about it.

Serenity smiled, and squeezed her daughter in a one-armed hug. As the Queen opened the book of old tales and began to read, Luna quietly crept closer to her own child, and settled down next to Diana, cuddling close.

So they all listened to Serenity's voice as she read the stories from the book, as the night hours carried them inexorably towards the day. The Princess was the first to, finally, drop off to sleep, nestled in the crook of her mother's arm. The Queen herself finally noticed her daughter's deep breathing, and closed the book and her own eyes, slowly relaxing into sleep as well.

Luna nuzzled Diana, whispering, "Sleep, Diana. You'll need it for tomorrow." The young mooncat, half-asleep already, closed her eyes, and was also soon breathing deep. Luna sat there, listening to the three breathe in the depths of slumber, for a very long time before she permitted herself to also slide into sleep.

* * *

"May I join your vigil, Your Majesty?" Artemis said politely to the King.

King Endymion, who was sitting in a deliberately chosen uncomfortable chair placed outside in the hallway opposite Chibi-usa's chamber door, nodded gravely to the white mooncat. "Of course, Artemis. I would be glad of the company, and another pair of eyes, as well."

"Thank you," replied Artemis, as he jumped up to the left side of the chair, sitting down on the wide arm, quite deliberately avoiding the sheathed sword that rested across the arms of the chair so as to be drawn instantly by the King. "Ah, do you think you'll need a sword tonight?"

Endymion replied, "No, probably not. At most I expect to chase away an overattentive staff member. Still," he added, moving the sword slightly, "it should serve to make my... point."

Artemis had to close his eyes and shake his head at the horrible pun.

Endymion smiled briefly at receiving the desired response from his feline friend. But then his gaze returned to the door across the hallway from him, and the gravity returned to his face. "I just want to make sure they're not interrupted at all, tonight," he said quietly, almost whispering.

"I understand, Your Majesty. My wife and daughter are in there, as well." Artemis then coughed, almost apologetically, and added, "I can share the watch with you, if you like. You will need some sleep for tomorrow, as well."

The King looked down at the royal advisor. "My part in tomorrow is far, far less than theirs, as you well know. They need sleep far more than I."

"I know, Your Majesty. But the part for me and mine is even less than yours; and so my need for sleep is far less than yours. I can wake you an instant if need be."

Endymion nodded. "Alright. But I am far from sleep at the moment, so go ahead and nap if you can. I'll wake you when I get too drowsy, and we'll switch off."

Artemis nodded in turn, and quickly curled up at the very edge of the wide arm, out of the way of any sudden sword draw. Both knew the odds were high the King would be awake the whole night, but the mooncat was wise enough to know when he'd done all that he could do.

So the King sat in the hallway, with a sword and a sleeping cat, guarding his daughter and his wife, on what he was quite sure was the very last night of his daughter's long childhood.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chibi-usa sat at the long table and tried not to fidget. In a few minutes the Bacchanalia would officially begin. Most of the members of the court were present around the table already, which was placed a bit behind the thrones in the Outer Throne Pavilion. The walls were present now, and the ceiling as well. Compared to the configuration when open to the surrounding gardens, the hall would appear to most to be quite enclosed and small, but to a princess almost locked into her rooms for a week it seemed very large indeed.

Two long tables were on the stage, one of which they all were sitting at. Another banquet table was nearby, with every square centimeter covered with various food, candy, treats, and drinks. The Princess was surprised that the table held up under the groaning piles of delectables. Although she noticed that everyone seemed to be as uninterested in eating as she herself was at the moment, including the trio of mooncats that were presently sitting under the banquet table itself.

"Very well, General. You have your orders, and you know the protocol. I'll contact you in a few days," said the King into a communication crystal. The Princess listened to her father making sure the last-minute details were covered for the military defense of the planet in the absence of the royal court, and in the absence of anyone else on the planet paying much attention during the world-wide vacation. The tone of the King's voice was jovially impatient; that of someone making sure his duties were attended to, so that he could soon forget them and make merry. It seemed a bit strange to hear him giving orders while he was dressed so casually; everyone was in casual gear, fit either to have a dinner around the table or go rooting through the gardens outside.

"See you in a few days," said Lady Ami in a happy tone into her own crystal, unconsciously echoing the King, before she switched the crystal off and laid it on the table before her. The King also laid his down on the table.

Lady Michiru and Lady Haruka also laid communication crystals on the table, as both Lady Rei and Lady Makoto casually strode into the hall. They were the last two of the court to arrive, and they put their communication crystals on the table as well. As they sat, the others brought any crystals, communication or otherwise, from pockets or pouches, and put them out upon the table.

"Small Lady," said her mother, "if you have any communication or access crystals, please deactivate them and put them on the table with the others." The Queen looked strange indeed to her daughter, as she was wearing pink denim overalls that had been trimmed at the legs to form shorts, with a simple navy blue shirt underneath. While her hair was in odango style, she had no ornamentation other than her ever-present brooch with the Silver Crystal inside, pinned to a strap of the overalls.

"No, mama, I just have my... um, pen, with me," Chibi-usa said, not sure if she should refer to her transformation pen as such. The note she'd found on her desk, when she'd finally awoken alone in her bed this morning, had stated, "Bring your pen today." So she had, and it was resting in the pocket of her shorts. The Queen nodded, satisfied.

"Everybody ready, then?" Lady Minako asked, smiling, as she rose from her seat with a small bag, made of strange cloth. At no sign of dissent, she quickly went along the table, gathering up everyone's crystals and placing them in the bag, then nonchalantly dropping the bag at the far end of the table before returning to her own seat.

"Is the palace secure?" asked the Queen off-handedly, glancing over at the banquet table, as if she couldn't wait to get started with the party.

"Kitchen and regular staff are all cleared from the building. We've got enough food stocked up for several weeks of partying, if we want," said Lady Makoto.

"Medical staff are present and locked in the clinic rooms; they'll be there just in case," Lady Ami confirmed. Chibi-usa startled a bit at the idea of staff being locked in, but as she was about to ask, Lady Rei continued, "Security staff have confirmed palace clear, and garden clear, and grounds clear, to 20 kilometer radius. Skeleton security standing by outside radius."

"Hmm, well, we don't have to confirm Small Lady's security detail this time," said the Queen, smiling over at her daughter. "Everyone ready then?" she added, eager anticipation ringing in her tone. Everyone at the table nodded, Chibi-usa joining in, her own anticipation at finding the answer to her friend's fate trembling inside her.

"Then let the Bacchanalia begin!" neo-Queen Serenity stated, throwing her arms wide with a smile.

One beat of a heart. Two. Then a soft, "Bacchanalia mode active. Palace secure," from Lady Minako, fiddling with a computer tablet in front of her.

The mood of the room instantly changed. Gone was the anticipation of revelry that Chibi-usa realized had been present only as it left. As Lady Minako shoved the tablet she'd just used into another bag of similar cloth to the bag she'd placed everyones' crystals in, everyone else at the table drew a deep breath. Then, letting it out, they turned to the young Princess.

"Now, at last, we can talk," said her mother.

Chibi-usa swallowed heavily, and looked from person to person. "This isn't a party, is it?" she asked nervously.

"No, dear," the King replied. "Not for us. We just act that way, before the final security checks, just in case someone is listening in." At the confused look on her face, he continued, "The world is partying, yes. But we're doing... something else. Something that requires absolute secrecy and security."

"That's why we put all our comm crystals in a blocking bag, and why the palace is empty," Lady Rei contributed. "All communication is scrambled and blocked, and there is no one here other than us inside the 20 kilometer radius of the palace."

"Save the med staff," interjected Lady Ami. Lady Rei nodded in acknowledgement.

"Wh.. why are they locked in?" asked Chibi-usa, not certain if asking was all right.

"Because we need to make certain where they are; we can't have them wandering around while we... do what we do. But we might need medical attention, so we have them available."

"Don't we have you, Lady Ami?" asked the Princess.

"What if I'm the one who needs attention?" replied Lady Ami, as understanding dawned in Chibi-usa's eyes. "They don't mind much, since we give them a year's pay for being locked up for a week or so. Besides," the blue-haired senshi continued, "we let them out afterwards. Or they dig themselves out."

"Dig?" Chibi-usa exclaimed.

"We might not be around to let them out again," Lady Rei explained.

"So we tell them if we haven't let them out in a week, to dig themselves out, just in case." Lady Ami smiled wryly, adding, "Most of them think we do that just in case all of us are still so drunk that we forget about them. And that I tell them over and over not to dig through my office because there's either some secret passage way through the walls, or some secret teleportation device hidden in my office that reaches out and transports me there in an emergency."

"They don't know that it's usually me transporting her in," explained Lady Makoto.

"Well... why do you keep the senshi stuff secret anyway? Why do I have to never let anyone here in the thirtieth century know I'm a senshi too? And what happened..." Chibi-usa stopped as both her father and mother raised their hands to stop her.

"That's as far as we can go before you take the oath, dear," the King said, as he rose from his chair.

The Queen scooted her chair around to face her daughter, as her husband moved to stand beside his wife. "Let's make this official, then. You, too, Diana," the Queen called over to the mooncat, still underneath the other table.

Diana quickly bounded over and jumped into Chibi-usa's lap, turning to face the Queen and King. The Queen cleared her throat, looking down. When she raised her gaze to look at her daughter and her daughter's advisor, both of them were taken aback to see nothing of Chibi-usa's mother in that gaze, only that of the Neo-Queen.

The King spoke, quietly. "This is the last point at which you can stop. You can, either of you, choose to leave the palace now, and join the rest of the world in celebration and release. Your usual protection detail, that has guarded you during these times in the past, is waiting, just in case. You can go, and things will go on as they have before. But you'll never be able to ask that question that you have asked, again, and you will not have to pay the price of the knowledge." He paused. "Do either of you want to go?"

Both of them shook their heads.

The Queen then spoke, with words crystal sharp, "Do you both swear, upon your lives, that what you are about to learn today while here with us during this so-called Bacchanalia, will never be spoken of by you, or shared in any way by you, with anyone other than those currently present?" The clear gaze of Neo-Queen Serenity pierced them both, calm and gentle but permitting no falsehood or disingenuousness before it.

"Yes," said Chibi-usa firmly. "Yes," came the answer from Diana.

The Queen sighed. "Okay." And suddenly it was her mother sitting in front of her again.

Chibi-usa heard the others sitting around the table all let out a small sigh, of release or relief she couldn't tell. "Finally," Lady Rei muttered, smiling.

The Princess gulped, not believing the moment had finally come. "I... I can ask now?" she stuttered, unsure.

"Yes, dear," said her mother. "You can ask."

Chibi-usa stood up, not noticing Diana jump down as she did so. She looked at her mother and her father, standing before her, waiting.

"What happened to Hotaru?" she almost screamed.

She was astonished to see a wave of pain come over her parent's features. She whirled to face the others, seated across the table; the same pain washed over them as well.

"We will tell you. But we can't tell you _here_," said Lady Minako, surprising Chibi-usa by who replied.

"We have to go to where we _can_ tell you," said Lady Rei, as they all rose to their feet.

"This is senshi business, dear," the Queen told her daughter, "so we need to transform. Wings too, I think," she added thoughtfully.

Chibi-usa's hand shot into the pocket of her shorts, her pen almost leaping into her hand. She whipped it out and, with the magical cry that was second nature to her, she transformed at last. She felt her senshi uniform come into being around her, her tiara appear upon her brow, and her wings spring back into existence on her back. A part of her exulted, and she stretched her wings instinctively.

As Sailor Chibimoon, she looked around at her fellow senshi as they transformed as well. Without, she immediately noticed, using any phrase, or any transformation pens.

"You... you don't have to use a pen?" she asked, looking from face to face.

It was Sailor Mercury who answered, "No, we don't need those anymore. With time and practice, you will move beyond the need for them as well."

"Well why didn't someone tell me that before?" she muttered, rather annoyed at the thought of no one helping her get stronger.

"Because I wouldn't let them," Sailor Pluto answered, quite calmly. "Until your travels to the past were complete, there were quite a few little things like that, that I asked be kept from you. That way, premature knowledge could not be given to our past selves."

Sailor Chibimoon opened her mouth to retort, but then decided this wasn't the time to protest that she'd followed all the rules she'd been given when traveling back to the past. In fact, she thought, looking around, it seemed as though the past had come to life before her.

"I don't think I've seen everyone like this since... since the twentieth century," she said, looking from figure to figure. It was strange to her; here were all her friends from back then, but they were the ladies of the court as well. She couldn't figure out what felt so different.

"We're a bit more mature these days, I suppose," Sailor Venus said, guessing at what was going through Sailor Chibimoon's mind. That was the difference, she realized; these were not the teenaged versions of her friends and fellow senshi before her, but senshi with literally centuries of experience.

Her mother broke into the train of her thought, with a bright exclamation of "Tuxedo Kamen!" Sailor Chibimoon turned from Sailor Venus, and saw Sailor Moon, wings tucked in tight to her body, embrace her father who was now, indeed, dressed in top hat, tuxedo, cape, and mask, having undergone his own variety of transformation. As the others looked on indulgently, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen kissed deeply, then as they separated, he handed his wife a single rose, as always.

As Sailor Moon breathed deep from the rose, her face shining with love for her husband, Sailor Chibimoon felt the initial childish reaction that she usually had towards her parents' displays of affection - that of embarrassment - dissipate. Suddenly, she saw before her not just her parents, not just the King and Queen, not even just Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon, but two people so very much in love that the emotion washed over all in the room, including her. It occurred to her how extraordinarily lucky she was to have parents such as these.

She pushed those thoughts aside, to deal with them another time; she was too close to her goal now to let herself be sidetracked. As Sailor Moon tucked the rose into her husband's lapel, Sailor Chibimoon looked around at her fellow senshi, and asked, "So, we teleport together somewhere now?"

Everyone smiled at the youngest senshi, and shook their heads. "Good guess," said Sailor Venus, as she stepped to the side and gestured towards the long expanse of the hall before the stage. "But no, we just walk from here." With that, led by Sailor Venus, they all began to simply leave the stage by walking down the steps. As she stepped down, Artemis trotted up behind Sailor Venus and leapt up to his usual position on her shoulder. Luna and Diana jumped up on the table top and leapt to their usual positions as well; Luna on Sailor Moon's shoulder, and Diana on Sailor Chibimoon's head.

Sailor Moon, taking up a position behind Sailor Chibimoon, made a tsking sound. "You need to preen your wings more often, dear," she said, tugging slightly at her daughter's feathers.

"I don't exactly get a chance to have my wings out that much, though," the Princess protested, quite rightly she thought.

"Besides," said Tuxedo Kamen, from beside Sailor Moon, "you could use a good preening too, dear," as he gave his wife's feathers a similar slight tug.

Sailor Moon laughed, a bit forced, "All right. Let's both help each other preen sometime soon," she added, squeezing her daughter's shoulder. The Princess realized that her mother was trying to lessen the tension of the situation, although to little success.

At the bottom of the stairs, Sailor Venus immediately turned right. Sailor Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter were right behind, with Sailor Chibimoon and her parents following. Sailor Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto brought up the rear, as per usual. Thus they set out on their trek, with Sailor Chibimoon trying to control her rising sense of anticipation.

A sense that quickly turned to extreme puzzlement when Sailor Venus stopped just past the edge of the stage, where the support columns and wall of the palace met the stage sections. She opened up a small, hardly noticeable door, which appeared to the Princess to be just a door to a janitorial closet. A suspicion that was confirmed when, as Sailor Venus held open the door and ushered them all inside, the room turned out to certainly look like a janitorial closet, albeit a large one.

With the light from a small fixture in the middle of the ceiling, that Sailor Mars had turned on as she entered the closet first, Sailor Chibimoon could see brooms, mops, and wheeled buckets arranged along one of the walls on brackets, next to several shelves of cleaners and cloths. As everyone else came in, she could see that the room just barely was large enough to let them all in without too much crowding. As Sailor Venus entered last, shutting the door behind her, the expression of perplexity on the Princess' face only grew.

"This looks like the janitor's closet," said the Princess, confused.

"This _is _the janitor's closet," said her father. "Have to store the tools used to keep the hall clean somewhere, after all. But," he added, "it's not _only _a janitor's closet."

"Ready?" asked Sailor Mars, at the far end of the closet.

"Ready," replied Sailor Venus, back at the door.

The two turned to face the wall opposite that of the brackets and shelves. They placed their hands on certain places near the corners, about shoulder high, and as one they both pushed.

A small door appeared on the wall opposite the door they'd entered. With a slight click, it opened.

Sailor Chibimoon looked with astonishment. "A secret door? You're kidding, right?"

"Sometimes the old ways are the best," said Sailor Mars. "In all these years, only five people have discovered this door, and three of those were janitors who did so completely by accident when a broom or something hit a spot while they were leaning against the other. Two of them immediately reported it to us, and we asked them to keep it secret, which they did, and were rewarded for it. The third entered the door," she added, gesturing to the secret door, "which is where we found him before he got any further."

"Our security sensors know when this door is opened, of course," added Sailor Venus.

"Um, what did you do to the one who went in?" asked the Princess with hesitation, not sure she wanted to know.

"He got used to his new assignment on the moon outpost, I'm told," her father answered lightly. "Eventually."

"The door can be opened by just one of us if need be, you understand, but it's easier with two or more, of course," added Sailor Mars.

Sailor Mars gestured, and one by one they went through the small door, with Sailor Venus now bringing up the rear. Sailor Chibimoon went through, remembering to duck for Diana and to keep her wings close to her body, and found a small ramp going down just a bit into a round room. The curved walls of the room were still the familiar opalescent crystal of the rest of the palace, but the floor was seemingly carved from rock. A few dim light fixtures on the walls let them see. There were three doors in the room other than the one they'd entered through. While their entrance door was as smooth a panel on this side as it had been on the other, with just a small handle to pull it open with, the other three were rough and heavy wood doors, bound in iron straps and with a thick iron handle on the right side of each door.

Sailor Mars put her hand, spread wide, to the left of the door immediately in front of the ramped entryway. From all three doors could be heard clicks, as of large bolts being drawn back.

"As of today, your hand will open the doors as well," said her father to the Princess. "The hidden sensor is right there where Sailor Mars pressed. Don't go into the doors on either side, it looks like rooms are there, but that's just a hologram like we use in the meeting rooms. They're really just large slides that end in a security cell on the far side of the palace. Of the two people who have ever broken in here, one picked one of the side doors and slid nicely to his cell."

"And what happened to him?" Sailor Chibimoon asked, again unsure if she should ask.

"Nothing," replied Sailor Mars. "He lived out his life right there, in the cell." At the Princess' shocked look, she added, "We fed him. Gave him books, holo viewers. He lived quite a long life there. He just didn't leave again. Ever."

"This isn't a game, Sailor Chibimoon. All of us will protect what lies behind these doors, in whatever way is necessary," said her mother quietly. "You are expected, now, to do the same."

Sailor Chibimoon paused, then nodded in acceptance.

Sailor Moon nodded in return, then gestured for Sailor Mars to continue. Mars turned to the now unlocked door, pulled on the handle and slowly drug open the obviously heavy door. As she held it open, bright light spilled from whatever lay beyond.

As Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter stepped inside, Sailor Moon spoke to her daughter, "Watch your wings inside this next room; there is a force field that will snip them clean off if you forget where your wingtips are." Sailor Chibimoon's eyes grew wide, and she instinctively drew her wings very close indeed to her body. Sailor Moon stepped around her and, taking her hand, led the Princess into the room beyond the rough wood and iron door.

They all filed into the room, which was brightly lit. The light seemed to come from everywhere, and it took the Princess' eyes a few moments to adjust. Blinking, she looked around, still mindful to keep her wingtips close into her body. Before her on the floor was a path of white tile, wide enough to let three or four people stride abreast. This path curved ahead and down out of sight; to each side of the tiled path the floor was rough, dark rock. Every few meters along the curved path, a column of polished stone rose from the floor to the low ceiling, which was but a meter at most above the King's and Sailor Pluto's heads.

But it was what stretched away on both sides of the tiled path that immediately caught Sailor Chibimoon's attention: piles of gold and silver coins and bars, rubies and sapphires and diamonds, jeweled statuettes and sparkling crowns, all stacked and strewn in both directions, seeming to go off forever into the distance.

"Pretty, isn't it?" said Sailor Jupiter, chuckling. Nodding, Sailor Chibimoon involuntarily took a step towards the golden pile. Instantly the hands of both her mother in front and her father behind slammed down upon her shoulders, and both Sailor Jupiter and Mercury stepped forcefully into her way.

"The force field lies between all the columns, at the edge of the tiles," Sailor Mercury said urgently. "If you cross off the tiles to try to pick up any of the apparent treasure, you'll be instantly vaporized."

"Or even just letting your wingtip stray a bit, it'll be vaporized too," added Sailor Moon, as a look of horror spread across Sailor Chibimoon's face. Diana tightened her grip on the Princess' hair.

"Don't leave the tiles," Diana worriedly advised her Princess, who nodded firmly in agreement.

Thus warned, the group began to walk carefully down the tiled path, single file, between the stone columns. Sailor Chibimoon gazed on each side, even while making sure she was at the absolute center of the path.

"Sailor Mercury, you said 'apparent' treasure. Is this all a hologram too?" she asked, still stepping carefully.

"No," Sailor Mercury called over her shoulder, "it's real for about ten or twenty meters on each side from the path. Then a hologram on the actual stone wall beyond that makes it seem like it goes on forever. But what is really there actually is gold and the like, just what it looks like."

"Um, papa..." the Princess asked over her own shoulder, "is this the real treasure room, then? Not the one up in the palace?"

The King chuckled. "Both are as real as the other, I suppose. There's nothing down here that you won't find up in the small 'Treasure Room' as well, though there's more down here of course."

"But then, why is so much down here?"

The King replied, "Because some people think that anyone with power has got to have secrets. So we gave them a secret to find. The idea is, since we really did have something that we wanted to protect, put something else that most people would want to hide in front of it. So that once they find this, perhaps they'll stop looking for what we're really hiding."

"And that works?" the Princess asked as they continued on.

Slight smiles appeared on the faces of several of the senshi, as the King sighed. "Not so much, really. The only person to ever get this far didn't even try for any of the apparent treasure, but went on to the next room. Still, I think it's not a terrible idea," he added, somewhat defensively.

"There are more rooms?" the Princess asked, just as around the curve appeared before them another door, wooden and iron-bound as the others had been.

"Just one more," replied her mother.

As the group reached the door, Sailor Jupiter simply pulled it open, and stepped through. The others followed, Sailor Chibimoon still painfully aware of where her wingtips were.

The room they entered was as circular as the first one they'd entered, but as they were now quite a bit further beneath the surface, the walls and ceiling were of rock as well as the floor. In front of them, on the opposite side, was but a single door, yet again in the same wood and iron-bound style, with the same handle on the right.

As Sailor Venus pushed the door behind them shut, Sailor Mars moved towards the front of the little group, saying, "Only one person, besides us, ever got this far." Sailor Mars gestured to the left of the door, adding, "There's a sensor here by the door, like on the first one, but if you put your hand on it, instead of the door opening, a small keypad on a column of rock emerges from the floor over there," she gestured towards the right side of the room, "and five seconds after that, gas starts to flow from small nozzles in the ceiling."

Sailor Chibimoon thought for moment, "Then you have to type in the right code, open the door, and get through before the gas knocks you out or... or kills you."

Everyone else in the room smiled. "It certainly seems like that's what you have to do, yes," Sailor Mars said. "In fact, when the only person who ever made it this far was found by us, which was quite quickly of course, she was running back and forth from the keypad to the door, pulling at the handle, trying to hold her breath."

"And, um... what happened to her?" asked Sailor Chibimoon, only barely daring to ask.

Sailor Moon asked, "Did she ever get used to being at the Neptune outpost?"

Sailor Neptune replied, "Not especially. She was particularly cranky as she got very old, since I never would tell her how the door really opens."

"So cruel," said Sailor Uranus, smiling at her teammate.

"She kept asking what the right code was," replied Sailor Neptune, smiling in return. "She never asked if there actually was a code or not."

"Would you have told her, if she'd asked?" said Sailor Uranus, stepping close to Sailor Neptune and gazing into her eyes.

"No," said Sailor Neptune, smiling up at her lover.

Sailor Mars coughed. "Anyway, the gas doesn't actually do anything. Neither does the keypad. It's a false puzzle, and the door's handle is false as well. You could yank on that handle forever, and the door will never pull open." She demonstrated, repeatedly tugging forcefully on the handle of the door, to no effect.

"Then, how..." began Sailor Chibimoon, but was interrupted by Sailor Mars' grin.

"Don't pull on the handle on the right..." Sailor Mars said, as she moved to the other side of the door, "... push on the left side instead." She did as her own words directed, and shoved inwards on the left side of the door, where the apparent hinges were. The door, hinges and all, opened before them and Sailor Chibimoon could see the true edge of the opening was a few inches left of the false side of the door, cut so exactly that were was no gap to give away the secret. The door and the false frame around it moved in as one.

Sailor Chibimoon's face fell. "That's... that's kind of lame."

Most of her fellow senshi chuckled. "Precisely," said the King. "The kind of person who would get this far would be anticipating some kind of fiendish puzzle to solve. So we gave them a puzzle that couldn't be solved, and a lot of gas to make sure they didn't think they had time to think about it." He continued as they all walked through the door, "These rooms aren't designed only with ways to stop someone, but mostly ways to slow them down until we can get here and stop them ourselves."

Sailor Chibimoon stepped through the door after her father, to find herself in another room carved from the rock. It was not so much a room, though, as merely a large area that led to the top of a huge stairway. From here at the top, it appeared to the Princess to spiral down into the dark, the stairs going down and down around a circle of open air. Above the stairwell was a semi-circular space hacked roughly from the rock, with some source of light there that shone down dimly over the open shaft.

The door they'd entered slowly closed of its own accord, apparently being cleverly weighted and hung so as to do so. The other senshi paused, and Sailor Chibimoon felt another shift of mood among them.

"No one other than us has been here, or to what awaits at the bottom of the stairs," said Sailor Moon quietly. "If anyone did come all the way to the end, they'd find nothing of value there. Nothing of value to them, that is. Except to us... it's perhaps one of the most valuable things of all."

"Come," the Queen said, stepping forward to take the lead. "There's no more forcefields; you can stretch," she added quietly, as she moved around her daughter. Only then did Sailor Chibimoon realize she was still clutching her wings to herself tightly; as her mother was relaxing her own wings as she moved to the front, the Princess did the same with her own.

So down the stairway they went, Sailor Moon in front; Sailor Mars and Venus behind; Sailor Chibimoon followed by her father; Sailor Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto next; and Mercury and Jupiter at the rear of the little column of walkers with the mooncat trio perched on their royal steeds.

The descent took what seemed a very long time. There was only a bit of light coming down from the top of the stairs, so it grew increasingly gloomy as down they went. Sensing the others' mood descending along with their footsteps, Sailor Chibimoon also kept silent, merely observing the details of the stairwell. The central open shaft was tens of meters wide, with the stairs that had been shaped from the rock spiraling down around it. Each step was slightly rough, but solid. The Princess thought that the addition of a rail around the steps might keep someone from falling down the open shaft, but the steps were at least wide enough for five people to walk abreast; anyone staying close to the equally rough-hewn wall would have little chance to plummet down to whatever awaited them.

But the descent did end eventually, and the Princess could see the end of the stairwell approaching due to the light that was coming through a small tunnel in the rock at the bottom. Everyone paused at the landing at the bottom of the stairs, reforming into a little group as they waited for all to leave the steps.

Sailor Moon reached down and took her daughter's hand. Smiling a sad little smile, she squeezed Sailor Chibimoon's hand gently, and began to lead her through the tunnel, from which light was beckoning them on. Tuxedo Kamen and the rest of the sailor senshi followed.

The tunnel was not long, a handful of meters, just long enough for the Princess to notice the rough rock had transitioned here to smooth stone blocks, arching above them as they walked. Then they were through. A few steps in, and the two in front paused, as the others quietly grouped up behind them.

Sailor Chibimoon slowly walked forward, as her mother let her hand slip away. The Princess looked back to her mother, who silently gestured that she should go ahead. Doing so, the winged girl marveled at what was before and above her, each step bringing more wonder and confusion.

It was a Japanese park.

Cradled in a huge chamber of a cave, here deep beneath the Earth, was what to every appearance seemed to be a common, albeit small, park from Japan of the twentieth century. The walkway which began just near the exit from the tunnel wound its stony way amid grassy lawns, with a small wooden bridge over a trickling stream. A few sakura trees dotted the area, although not in blossom at this time of year. As she walked along the winding path, she could see flowers here and there, just as any garden back from the time she'd visited would have, as well as a rock garden area.

Walking along, slowly, she looked up, almost dazzled at the light from above. The source was hard to see, but the effect was to give the garden almost as much light as a cloudy day would have given any garden on the surface. The others walked behind her at a distance, letting her discover things as she would, staying as silent as the grave.

Around a twist in the path, Sailor Chibimoon saw ahead a small hill, almost in the center of this huge cavern. Walking along, as she got closer she could see there was something atop the hill. Something that appeared to be placed quite deliberately at the center of this hidden garden.

With slowing step and growing dread, the Princess approached the hill and what was atop it. At its bottom, she paused, and looked back at the group who trailed behind her. Their faces were solemn, giving no hint nor help nor direction; merely waiting. At a sudden urge, she reached up to lift Diana off her head, and placed the mooncat down on the stony pathway. Diana merely moved to the side and sat, waiting, caught by the mood of the place and knowing that these few steps ahead seemed to be ones the youngest senshi should take alone.

The Princess paused, there at the bottom of the small hill, a kindness to call it a hill at all rather than a large mound. Head down, not quite yet wanting to see what was there, she wondered if she should have ever wanted to come here, wanted to know the answer to the question she had so insistently asked. But then memories of her friend filled her mind. She paused no longer.

The winged Princess walked up the hill and the court followed.

As Sailor Jupiter scooped up a silent Diana, offering her a friendly shoulder to ride upon, Sailor Chibimoon crested the small hill. It was not terribly large across the top, but wide enough, she supposed, for what was atop it. There, in the center, was a figure, which grew larger as she approached.

Almost desperate to not see that figure yet, it was nigh a glad reprieve for the Princess to see a small stone plinth by the side of the all but ended path. It stood amidst the bright green grass, just slightly higher than her waist, and the words that lay there atop it almost shouted out from the dull patina of the bronze plaque.

"Hotaru Tomoe. Savior of the Earth, and all that lives upon it."

The date beneath those lines was of a day just over a year after Chibi-usa's last day back in the twentieth century.

Eyes watering and downcast, Sailor Chibimoon walked past the end of the path and approached the figure that waited on top of the hill, amid an oval of bare dirt carved from the cheerful grass. Swallowing, she halted before it, and raised her eyes to see what she, at last, knew she would.

The stony figure of her friend, Hotaru.

But it was not even close to what she thought she might find, she realized. For the figure of Hotaru was crouched on her knees, legs spread wide and balancing her there in the dirt, while her hands were above the ground, fingers splayed. It gave the effect that there was something missing, something the girl of stone was supposed to be astride. Given that the figure was on her knees, the Princess realized that she was looking down at it, making it seem even smaller and somehow more fragile. Further and stranger, the Princess realized, a flush going to her royal cheeks, was that other than the small choker of Sailor Saturn around her neck, the figure of her friend before her was quite completely nude.

But worst, oh by far most worst and most terrible of all, was that the figure of Hotaru was screaming.

Sailor Chibimoon had never seen such agony on a human face, let alone that of her friend. Without thinking, she raised her hand to wipe away the tears from the cheek of the figure before her, tears that surely must be there on any face so racked with pain. But of course no tears were there, and as her fingers stroked the cheek she could feel even through her gloves the stony texture, strangely akin to actual flesh, but colder by far than any flesh or even any stone had any right to be.

Withdrawing her hand, the Princess had to turn her head away from the terrible sight of the stone figure. As she turned to the left, she saw another surprising sight: a Silence Glaive, thrust into the earth just a little ways from the figure of stone, gleaming as if Sailor Saturn had just placed it there herself. Forcing herself to do so, Sailor Chibimoon returned her gaze to the figure of her friend, looking hard at the agonized face, the stony hair seeming to cling to her forehead as if damp with sweat, the taunt muscles of her upper body straining. Turning then, unable to look more, the Princess had a passing wonder that any artists could be found that could make such a thing as both the stony figure and a facsimile of the shining glaive, or why anyone would want them to do so.

The Princess looked back down the little hill, tears hanging in her eyes, and saw the rest of the senshi and her father gathered together half way down from the summit. They stood, patiently waiting, giving her space and time to absorb the initial impact of that pain-twisted figure. She also saw Diana sitting over by the stone plinth, apparently having quietly come up the hill behind her after all, close enough to see what the Princess had discovered there. The little mooncat looked appalled at what was on the hill, eyes still wide with shock.

Head down, wings visibly drooping, Sailor Chibimoon walked slowly back down the little hill, treading heavily as she went, with Diana trailing silently behind. The others spread out a bit, and sat down upon the inviting grass, forming a rough circle. Luna and Artemis jumped down from their various perches and gathered together near Sailor Venus, and Diana darted ahead to join them, as she seemed to want to be as near as could be to her parents. As she reached them, the Princess sat in the space next to her mother, and leaned against her. Sailor Moon put her arm around her daughter and hugged her close, their wings caressing, giving what comfort she could. Knowing it would never, could never, be enough.

For quite a long time, Sailor Chibimoon simply leaned against her mother, trying not to think, gazing without seeing at the green grass they were all sitting on. Suddenly, the incongruity of sitting on grass so deep underground struck her. She lifted her head and gazed around, at the grass, and the brook and the bridge in the distance, at the light shining down from above.

"How..." she softly started, her voice suddenly feeling unused for a long period, "how can there be a garden underground?"

Her father answered, "The light is from the palace, up above. It's natural light, channeled through the crystalline structure of the palace itself, to shine down here. Some of the strange dead-ends in the palace hallways are due to where we needed to put the special density light guides that direct the light through the walls. The air is pumped through as part of the palace's own air system, through many small pipes far too small for anyone to get through. The water is from automated wells; the grounds maintained by automated gardening bots. Only we ever come here, but no matter how long between our visits, this place is kept up. Kept safe."

The Princess nodded, not really caring after all and sorry she asked. She was stalling, and the others were waiting on her. Afraid to know more, and afraid not to, she looked up at her mother, who was watching her with eyes filled with sadness and kindness and love.

"Mama... what happened to Hotaru?" she asked, for the final time.

Sailor Moon sighed. "Here, we can tell you. At long last."

Sailor Mars added, "It's a long story."

Sailor Venus, "We'll all take turns, and tell you everything."

Sailor Mercury, "Some of it we found out later, the details. We put some of it all together later. But we talked about how to do this, and decided to tell you, all of us, as it happened. As everything happened."

Sailor Moon drew apart, just a little, from Sailor Chibimoon, adding, "We'll tell you what happened to Hotaru, and to us, and to everything, on that day."

Sailor Chibimoon whispered, "That day?"

It was Sailor Pluto who replied, "The day the world ended."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Clouds boiled overhead, fitful lightning flashing to and fro amongst them, as the skies revolted against the temperature extremes that the just-finished battle had subjected them to.

Sailor Moon lifted her head, ignoring the painful throbbing that echoed through her skull. Panting, she looked around, trying to see if that last, desperate attack against the aliens had worked. The small park that they'd wound up in was torn, smoking blast holes here and there, with many a tree ripped away and fallen. But she could see no more trace of the aliens that had dropped from the skies without warning and attempted to either conquer or kill everything on the planet.

What she could see, and which filled her heart with gladness, was that everyone seemed to be okay. Sailor Mars was just a few steps away, helping Sailor Venus to her feet. Sailor Jupiter was crouched in the grass, head bowed with fatigue, next to a sitting Sailor Mercury who was apparently scanning the area with her visor and pocket computer. Sailor Pluto was leaning heavily on her Time Staff, over by where Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were apparently communicating via their usual method of staring deeply into the other's eyes.

Turning her weary head, she saw her beloved, Tuxedo Kamen, kneeling by the little walkway that wound through the park. Her heart seemed to skip a beat at the sight, peaking through the torn remnants of his shirt sleeve, of a long gash on his lanky arm. But just then Sailor Saturn kneeled down, heavy with her own fatigue, next to him and reached out her left hand to his arm. Ignoring his protestations, she touched the long bloody gash, and her hand shone briefly. As Sailor Moon watched, the gash closed, the opening in his arm healing within seconds. Drawing her hand away, the young senshi slumped, breathing deeply.

"Thank you, Sailor Saturn," he told her, but she just nodded and heavily levered herself up with the Silence Glaive in her right hand. With a slight totter, she moved towards Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus, both of whom obviously bore many smaller cuts and burns from the battle.

Sailor Moon stumble-stepped over to Tuxedo Kamen, almost dragging her drooping wings behind her, and sat down beside him with a thud. He smiled at her, and gently taking her hand in his own brought it up for a kiss from his lips. She felt the familiar thrill run through her heart, and smiled at him, not realizing how her smile sent the same thrill through his own heart.

"Sailor Moon!" came a shout, as Luna and Artemis bounded up the slight hill whose side they were all resting on. Luna ran up to Sailor Moon, as Artemis dashed over to where Sailor Venus was having one of her legs bathed in the glow from Sailor Saturn's healing touch.

"Are you all right?" Luna asked anxiously, running up to peer at Sailor Moon's face, which was obviously etched with exhaustion.

"I think so, Luna," she replied. "We seem to have driven them off, at least."

"I don't think any of them escaped that final blast of yours, Sailor Moon. Good job, as always," Tuxedo Kamen added, his face shining with pride.

Sailor Moon blushed at his praise. "Well, let's wait until Sailor Mercury gives the all-clear," she said, to deflect his accolades.

They looked then towards Sailor Mercury. Who looked up at them and smiled, saying, "There doesn't seem to be any trace of any other aliens anywhere. At least not in Japan, where they seemed to be concentrating their attack."

"Why is it always Japan?" wondered Sailor Venus idly, as Sailor Saturn sat down heavily next to her, the healing process completed. The blonde smiled at the dark-haired girl in thanks, but her healer just tiredly nodded in return.

"I think it's more to do with us than Japan," replied Sailor Mars, too tired to put the usual wryness in her tone. Sailor Venus shrugged as Artemis anxiously jumped up on her shoulder. She knuckled his chin, quietly reassuring him that she was fine.

"Are there any more of those damned ice machine robot things around?" Sailor Jupiter asked of Sailor Mercury, who was still tapping away at her computer.

"No, there don't seem to be. We might have gotten them all. Let me double-check, though," she said, her voice trailing off as she concentrated on scanning the area.

Tuxedo Kamen squeezed Sailor Moon's arm and murmured, "I'll go on up this hill to see if there's anyone around who was in the park and may be injured." She nodded, and watched as he slowly got up and walked towards the top of the small hill that the fight had wound up ending upon. She fleetingly hoped that anyone in the park had had the good sense to flee and get inside, what with all the explosions coming closer and ice-spewing machines running around and everything. She felt too exhausted to deal with helping injured bystanders.

For a time, the senshi all seemed content to just rest for a bit, there on the grass of the park, in the quiet stillness of the place, even if the clouds were still boiling above them. Artemis nuzzled back at Sailor Venus, while Sailor Moon invited Luna up into her lap and hugged her. The well-earned respite of a battle won.

Then, one by one, slowly each senshi turned their head, puzzled or concerned, all towards the same place, as each in turn noticed that Sailor Mercury's tapping at the keyboard of her computer was getting faster. Much faster. Terribly faster.

Everyone seemed to freeze as they watched her fingers fly across the keyboard, her motions a silent scream. Sailor Mercury's eyes grew frantic, her mouth set, not wanting to believe the information she was being given.

Without warning, she halted, the tapping ceased, over. Sailor Mercury closed her computer, and raised her visor from before her eyes, and only then looked up at her fellow warriors and her friends.

"We're in trouble," she said.

Sailor Mercury instantly raised her hand, to forestall their reactions before they could speak. "Most of the satellites in orbit over Japan were destroyed as the aliens tore down from space, so I patched into the other satellites around the Earth to check for anywhere else they may have set down, or more of them in orbit. There aren't any aliens that I can detect, and they certainly didn't hide themselves here.

"But there are more ice machines. Apparently the battle here was just a feint. They must have wanted to toy with us while their real plan took hold. They couldn't have imagined we would defeat them so quickly. But while we defeated the aliens, their machines are still coming."

No one dared yet make a sound, as Sailor Mercury's words continued to hammer into them. "They appear to have landed in South America, almost exactly the opposite side of the planet from us here in Japan. The ice machines came out of the horde of landing craft and froze everything. Are freezing everything. The land, the plants, the people, the rivers, the oceans." Sailor Mercury shook her head, not wanting to believe it herself. "They're freezing the very oceans. North and South America are already gone, covered while we fought them here. The machines are travelling at supersonic speeds. They're hitting Europe as we speak. Converting the world to ice. Terraforming it...," she paused, a bitter chuckle passing her lips, "no, not Terra. Forming it to be like whatever planet they came from, wherever that is.

"There were nuclear explosions in North America, as they tried to fight back, in the bare minutes they had. It didn't stop it. It didn't even slow them down. Whatever combination of magic and science is running them, nukes were no hindrance to it.

"In twenty minutes or so, they'll be done enveloping the rest of the globe and they'll converge again. Converge here. Millions and millions of machines. I can't... I can't think of any way to stop them. Even if we weren't exhausted..."

"Are they networked together?" interrupted a weary Sailor Saturn from where she still sat next to Sailor Venus.

"What? No... not that I could tell," answered Sailor Mercury. "They seem to be independent of each other, though acting towards the same goal. Why?"

"Because if they were networked, I could treat them all as one single thing," answered Sailor Saturn in turn. "And I can destroy," she wiggled the Silence Glaive in her hand for emphasis, "any one thing. But not millions of separate entities." She sighed, obviously wishing it could be that simple.

Sailor Venus turned to look at Sailor Pluto. "Is this it? The crisis we knew would come, when the world is covered in ice?" A flicker of pain flashed across Sailor Pluto's face, and she bit her lip and looked away for a moment. When she turned back, her face had resumed its customary distant look. She made no reply.

"Why won't you tell us?" shouted Sailor Jupiter, anger driving her to her feet, to glare murderously at the eldest senshi.

"She can't," said Sailor Mercury, drooping her head. "If she tells us what to do directly, it will change how we do it, and the future will be different, and probably fail." She looked up at her lover, now towering beside her. "It's not her fault, Makoto," she whispered.

"What _do_ we do?" said Sailor Mars. "How are we..."

She was interrupted by Sailor Moon's scream, "Mamoru!" and they all turned just in time to see Tuxedo Kamen, standing atop the little hill while looking for anyone in the area that might need help, crumple to the ground like a string-cut puppet.

Sailor Jupiter thought she would reach him first, having been the only one standing at that moment. But as she ran up the hill, she realized she'd arrive second as Sailor Moon quite literally flew past her, to land at the side of her beloved.

As Sailor Mercury, Mars, and Venus arrived next, they found Sailor Moon in tears, crouched beside him and frantically moving her hands along Tuxedo Kamen's body, looking for any wounds that might have been overlooked. Sailor Mercury fell to her knees on the opposite side of his body and, whipping out her pocket computer again, quickly began scanning him.

"He's exhausted," she said, slipping into a doctor's professional tone. "But... I don't understand... he's getting more drained..." she continued, running the computer up and down the length of his body, and again typing rapidly as she did so.

"Oh no..." Sailor Mercury uttered. She turned an even paler shade of pale. "Sai... Usagi," she said, hunting for words. "He's... he's dying."

Usagi snapped her head back and wordlessly screamed in denial. The rest of the senshi who were just arriving, with Sailor Uranus and Neptune helping an exhausted Saturn stumble up the hill, were driven back in shock at the wave of negation coming from Sailor Moon.

"I will _not_ lose him again," said Sailor Moon. "I won't lose him or any of you. Not again. Never again!" The words, almost tearing the air around them with the force of her fervor, pushed back her friends' exhaustion, if only for a moment.

"What's wrong with him, Ami?" said Usagi, not looking at her, but gently stroking Mamoru's face.

"His energy levels are critically low. It's like he's being drained dry by something," replied Ami. Before she could continue, Sailor Saturn broke away from Uranus and Neptune, and stumbled up the rest of the way towards the group, leaning on her glaive. Sailor Saturn stopped a pace or two away, and raised the glaive a bit above the ground, then slammed the butt into the soft turf. She left it there, stuck into the ground, and stumbled forward, almost collapsing on her knees beside the fallen man. "Let me try," Sailor Saturn said quietly. "Open his shirt, please."

Usagi tore open his shirt to expose Mamoru's chest. "Please help him Hotaru," she pleaded, sliding herself up along the ground up towards his head as Hotaru placed her hands upon him. Almost visibly gathering her remaining strength, Hotaru breathed in deeply, then breathed out slowly as her gloved hands glowed upon his bare chest.

On and on it seemed to go, Hotaru's hands glowing, Usagi not daring to breathe, Ami scanning and scanning, the others seeming to be held fast in place. Suddenly, Mamoru coughed, and opened his eyes, whispering, "Usa... gi..." But in that instant, Hotaru slumped silently, her hands no longer giving their healing glow, and Mamoru's eyes rolled up as he returned to unconsciousness.

"Hotaru, I scanned what you were doing," Ami said urgently. "As fast as you poured healing energy into him, it was sucked right back out again... except there at the end, when he was conscious for just a second. Then the energy flowed through him instead of just pouring out."

Hotaru simply nodded slightly, breathing heavily. Ami continued, "But then when he passed out again, it all flowed away." Usagi gave a little cry, and stroked Mamoru's face, trying to coax him back to wakefulness.

"What the hell is draining him?" asked Makoto, almost to herself.

For a moment, the only sound from them all was Hotaru's labored breathing and Usagi's repeating of Mamoru's name as she pleaded with him to awake.

Then Ami's eyes widened in realization. "Of course. It's the planet. The whole planet. The life on Earth is dying as it's covered by the ice. He's linked to all the life on the Earth, just as we're linked to our own planets. As the Earth dies, so does he."

Usagi was on the verge of tears as she looked at Ami. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

From behind where Ami crouched next to Mamoru, with Makoto standing beside her, Minako quietly but urgently said, "We're running out of time."

Usagi turned to Hotaru, the desperate need so evident on her face as she asked, "Hotaru, can you try again?"

"Unless he's awake she could pour her whole life into him and it wouldn't matter," protested Ami immediately. "She'd be trying to heal the whole planet!"

At the words, from across their dying friend, the eyes of Hotaru and Minako met. Each remembered, and could see the other remembering, Minako's words of just two weeks ago, said to Hotaru offhandedly, almost jokingly: "Have you ever tried healing a whole planet?" Minako was instantly afraid, knowing just what Hotaru was about to say, even as she said it.

"Give me enough power, and I'll heal the whole planet," said Hotaru.

The replies from her fellow senshi were immediate, and they spoke over each other; "You're nuts," from Makoto; "No, Hotaru!" from Michiru; "I forbid it!" from Haruka. Followed a heartbeat later by, "You'll die," from Ami.

Hotaru looked tiredly at Ami, across the body of the barely breathing man. "I do tend to do that," she said simply.

"But there's no point in dying uselessly," argued Ami. "Even the whole power of the Silver Crystal wouldn't be enough to heal the whole planet! It wouldn't even heal _him_ if he's not conscious enough to stem the energy flow enough to keep some for himself!"

Usagi raised her now tear-stained face. "I can wake him up."

She quickly moved on hands and knees, crawling around where Hotaru sat by Mamoru's chest, her wings fluttering, to kneel by his waist, saying quickly, "Rei, help me." Rei stepped forward from beside Minako, and knelt as well, saying just as quickly, "What do you want me to do?"

"Help me take his pants off," Usagi said, already tugging at his belt to unfasten it.

Rei sat back, nonplussed. "What?" she asked, disbelieving.

"Rei," Usagi said, undoing Mamoru's belt and starting to attack the buttons, "Mamoru and I have been making love for months now. We didn't want to wait anymore. I hid it from everyone but there's no time now. So help me."

"Um, okay," Rei said, not believing what she was doing even as her hands reached out to tug at the top of the tuxedo pants. "But..." Rei paused, looking at Setsuna, who was standing a bit behind Michiru and Haruka. Rei gave her a questioning look, and Setsuna nodded slightly in permission.

"Look, Usagi," Rei started, even as now the two of them were taking turns tugging on each side of his pants, "we... we already knew about the two of you."

"You did? Oh, okay," said Usagi, totally focused on disrobing her boyfriend. Rei, surprised at the lack of shock from Usagi at finding her secret exposed even in these circumstances, glanced up at Minako, who could only shrug. Rei returned to the depantsing, as the two of them worked the pants down both his legs to his shoes. With a simple flip to each, Usagi rotated both shoes off Mamoru's feet, sending them flying down the hill, and with a final pull she had the pants completely off of him. As Rei pulled them off to the side, Usagi without a word reached up and began pulling his underwear off as well.

They came down far easier than the pants, just a couple of tugs, and Usagi needed no help to complete this disrobing. Hotaru, still too tired to move from her position by his chest, was wide-eyed and turned her gaze away from what was no longer concealed. Most of the other senshi gathered around were equally disconcerted and averted their gaze. Sitting near to where the outer senshi were standing, Luna gave a horrified gasp and completely turned around, to sit facing away. Haruka, though, looked quite directly, and uttered an impressed "Ah!" which was rewarded by a mock blow to her shoulder by Michiru.

"Usagi, what are you doing?" a shocked Rei sputtered out, catching Usagi by the shoulder as she began to lean down over the newly exposed territory.

"Mamoru told me once, after we'd made love, that I could make a dead man come," Usagi said simply. "So I figure I could wake him up, too."

"Usagi," Minako struggled to say, "I think that's a line from a song."

"I know," she replied, "but that doesn't mean it's not true, and if that's what I have to do..." and with that, Usagi bent down and in one motion, took Mamoru's manhood deep into her mouth.

As Usagi did so, taking his warmth inside her mouth, she heard five senshi instantly gag and cough, and felt an echo of a cough in her own throat, even though she considered herself well practiced at this act with her lover by now. An instant later, she also felt a strange mental slam of, what she knew somehow, was two senshi blocking her from their perception.

Usagi sat up, staring at her friends, her hand at her mouth. "You felt that?" she asked incredulously. "And," she added, looking back towards Haruka and Michiru, "you blocked it?"

"Yes, Usagi," Rei said softly, "we felt that. Through our link with you. We've... we've been feeling you make love to Mamoru. Everything. Each time."

Usagi's eyes grew wide at the realization of what her fellow senshi had experienced through her. Haruka added, "Well, not the three of us," gesturing to herself, Michiru, and Setsuna. "Our planets are much further from Earth. But apparently when we're this close to you, even we can feel it."

Usagi stared at her friends. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered, aghast.

Minako, speaking quickly, replied, "We couldn't embarrass you and make you skip the time you and Mamoru might make Chibi-usa, and thus destroy the world. But that doesn't matter now - because _we don't have time_." So saying, she pointed at the sky. The boiling clouds were gone, replaced with an unnaturally clear sky.

"The moisture is freezing out of the whole atmosphere, so no clouds," said Ami, almost carelessly, as she was looking away, clearly thinking of something else. Suddenly, she shot to her feet, and pointed at Setsuna accusingly.

"No! It wasn't for Chibi-usa that we had to never block Usagi! You just let us think that, so Minako and Hotaru would discover what we can do with our sigils!" Ami almost screamed her realization at the older senshi. Setsuna bowed in acknowledgement and said quietly, "That, among other things."

Usagi, clearly confused, shouted, "What are you talking about? Help me save Mamoru!"

Ami whirled back to Usagi, "That's _how_ we might be able to save Mamoru. And life on the planet. We discovered that if we light up our sigils on our foreheads and press them against each other, we can share each others' thoughts. But Makoto and I have been experimenting, and we discovered that we can also _amplify _our power when we do that."

"We can?" both Rei and Minako said together.

"That's our only chance. If Usagi pulls power from the Silver Crystal, feeds it to us, we amplify it through all of us, feed it back to Usagi, who gives it to Hotaru, who heals Mamoru, and maybe through him enough life on the planet to reseed, and hopefully without draining Hotaru to death." Finished with her explanation, Ami looked around at everyone, and everyone looked back rather blankly.

"I think you lost me, Ami," Makoto said.

"We all have to put all our sigils together?" asked Rei, also confused.

"No," said Ami, trying to be patient. "We can transfer power to each other just by touching, like always. We've given Sailor Moon power from us plenty of times. But to amplify it, we have to have our sigils touching. When Makoto and I did it, we amplified the power by pouring our own power back into the circuit... look, when you do it you'll understand, okay?"

"When did you and Makoto try this?" Rei asked, still trying to understand.

"When we were making love," Makoto smiled briefly, remembering. "After Minako told us what she and Hotaru had discovered, Ami wanted to... experiment."

"So we have to be making love to amplify the power?" Minako asked impatiently.

Ami stopped at the question, seeming to freeze for a second. "I don't know. That's how we did it. I don't know if sex is required or not." She looked increasingly desperate. "And seeing as how we have at most ten minutes left before the ice machines get here, I don't think we should try any other way. We don't have time."

"So..." Makoto paused. "We're going to have an orgy?"

Minako said grimly, "Unless someone has a better idea, yes. We're going to have an orgy."

She added, "And maybe once we get Mamoru conscious and healed enough, we can retreat somewhere, and..."

Ami wearily interrupted, "No, Minako. I don't think we can stop the ice. We can only hope to save Mamoru and maybe enough life on the planet to reseed after the ice is gone." The look she gave her friends was grave. "Even with amplifying our power, we can't save everything. Most of the world is going to die, under the ice."

Minako sighed, bowing her head slightly and putting her hand up to her forehead. "No time, no time," she muttered. The she coughed, as did everyone else, as Usagi returned to her attempt to awaken Mamoru.

"Usagi," started Rei, only to be interrupted by Minako saying, "Let her, Rei. He has to be... 'up' for this to work anyway, if that's the only way to wake him."

Hotaru put one hand back on the chest of the drained, dying man, and her hand glowed ever so faintly. Ami scanned again the length of Mamoru's body with her computer, before snapping it shut. "That's helping him, Hotaru, a little anyway, before it drains out of him. Keep it going, if you can." Hotaru nodded, closed her eyes, and bowed her head.

Minako had gone down the few steps over to where the three outer senshi stood. As she came up to them, she heard Haruka murmur, as she watched Usagi's actions, "That would wake _me_ up." Michiru simply rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Minako said to the three. "Even if this crazy idea works, we still just won't have enough time. Can the three of you shield the rest of us while we... do this?"

The three looked at each other, and nodded. "Yes, Minako. We will shield you," said Haruka.

"Thank you," replied Minako simply, and turned away to walk back to the others, and where Usagi's efforts seemed to be starting to have results.

"Let's plan this out," said Setsuna quietly, and Haruka and Michiru turned to face her fully. "Haruka, you stand directly beside Usagi on one side of Mamoru, and Michiru stand on the other side. I will stand down by where everyone's feet will be as they lay on the ground. We face away from the others, and use our talismans to create a small, tight shield all around them."

Haruka shook her head and stated in mock sadness, "The first orgy we get invited to, and we can't even watch."

Michiru replied calmly, "Ours is a cruel fate."

Even Setsuna had to smile slightly. "You'll need to be close to Sailor Moon, because when the shield breaks..."

"_If_ the shield breaks," corrected Michiru mildly.

"Which it _won't_," added Haruka with some heat.

Setsuna looked slowly from one, to the other, of her teammates. "We must buy them every moment we can. But, _when_ the shield breaks," she continued, "you will have a bare instant in which to make sure you're touching Sailor Moon, or one of the others in the circuit, even if just with your talisman."

"And if we don't?" challenged Haruka, still somewhat miffed at the thought of them failing to shield their comrades.

Setsuna sighed, then looked Haruka directly in the eye. "Sailor Uranus, in the long period that I protect the timeline that we're fighting for, there are two and only two times when I can answer a question of yours freely. This is the first, and the answer is this: If either of you don't, then Crystal Tokyo will be a lot lonelier without you."

With that Setsuna walked between them, heading up the hill to join the rest of the senshi. Both Haruka and Michiru felt a deep chill crawl down their spines at Setsuna's calm and utterly certain statement.

Michiru looked up at her lover and murmured, "Let's stand very close to Sailor Moon, shall we?"

Haruka swallowed, and softly replied, "If you insist, my love."

Meanwhile, Minako had returned to the rest of the group. Hotaru still sat by Mamoru's chest, her hand glowing ever so faintly upon it, with her head bowed, trying to conserve her strength. Usagi was still performing the actions that they all could feel quite clearly, while Ami and Makoto were beginning to help each other remove their sailor senshi uniforms. Rei, still on her knees by Mamoru's feet, was watching Usagi's actions with a certain fascination. Minako placed her hand on Rei's shoulder, and said quietly, "Rei, we need to strip down. Help me."

Nodding, Rei rose to her feet, and she and Minako began to help each other tug and pull off their uniforms, which were never quite designed to be removed physically rather than magically. Ami and Makoto had finished the same task, the two piles of their uniforms with their tiaras on top off to the side amidst the grass. While Makoto stood by, Ami's eyes darted to and fro, trying to visualize how they should arrange themselves. "Minako," Ami finally said, "I think if we lay here," she gestured alongside Mamoru's right leg, "and you and Rei lay there," gesturing along his other leg," and we join hands across, then Usagi can pull power from the Crystal, send it to us, we'll amp it and send it to you, you amp it and send it back to Usagi, who gives it to Hotaru." Minako, busy helping Rei tug her suit down and off her legs, simply nodded.

"Can she control the power while doing... that to him?" Rei wondered, indicating with her head Usagi's continued actions, while her hands began to help remove the last of Minako's uniform.

Ami considered this. "I doubt it. She'll have to sit on him, I guess."

"Just sitting won't wake him up, if this hasn't," Makoto chimed in, as she lay down on the grass near Mamoru's leg.

Ami nodded briefly, still trying to envision a configuration for them all. "If Usagi is... sitting, and Hotaru needs to have hands on Mamoru... I guess Hotaru will need to sit in front of Usagi, and Usagi can transfer power to her while she has her hands on his chest...?"

Rei, tugging off the last of Minako's uniform, asked, "They won't need to be sigil to sigil?"

Ami frowned, and shook her head. "They'll both have other things to do besides amplify the Crystal's power. Usagi will need to manage the flow of it, and Hotaru will use it for the healing." She quietly added, "If she can," under her breath.

Rei sighed, moving to step lightly over his legs to the other side, and crouched down again next to Usagi. She squeezed in a bit between Hotaru and Usagi, placing her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Usagi," she said gently, shaking her shoulder. Usagi's face rose from its task to look up at Rei. "You'll need to be sitting on him, we think, so you'll have to make love to him... the other way. If that will wake him up."

Usagi simply nodded, then realized that Rei, and most of the others, were nude. "I'll do what I have to. I guess I need to be nude too, then," she added matter-of-factly, but then looked down at her lovers' manhood that she still held at the base in her gloved hand. Usagi looked back up at Rei, their faces close, and said, "Rei, if I stop he'll... will you..."

Rei sighed again, and nodded. As Usagi withdrew her hand, Rei replaced it with her own, and began what she hoped was the appropriate up and down motion. Usagi stood up and stepped away a pace, to begin tugging off her gloves and the rest of her uniform. Rei muttered, "Some days this job doesn't pay enough," earning a snort from Makoto.

Haruka and Michiru came up to Usagi then, both murmuring "Let us help," and began to disrobe her. Usagi, watching Rei's efforts, simply let them, taking her brooch from her chest in one bared hand and holding out her arms to give them access.

Haruka couldn't quite help herself, and quietly said, "I've had dreams like this, you know," as she removed Usagi's chest armor. Michiru just shook her head, helping Usagi step out of her boots.

Usagi's mouth twitched briefly in a half-smile, but she simply said, "I'm sure; but not now, please," and Haruka said no more, as she and Michiru quickly finished the job.

As Usagi was disrobed, Minako knelt beside Hotaru. The smallest senshi still had her hand on his chest, while hanging her head and breathing deeply with her eyes half-closed, trying to sustain as much of her healing energy as possible. Minako touched her shoulder, as gently as she could, and Hotaru raised her head, opening her eyes fully to look over at her nude teammate. "You'll need to take your uniform off, too, I think," said Minako. Nodding in understanding, Hotaru again closed her eyes. Her small frame shimmered, and suddenly she was nude except for the choker of Sailor Saturn that still fit snuggly around her neck.

"How'd you do that?" asked Minako incredulously.

"You don't know that trick?" asked Hotaru in response, surprised. Minako shook her head, strangely a bit offended at her own lack of this specific knowledge. Hotaru smiled a tired little smile, and said, "I'll tell you later."

Then Usagi, nude, wings held tight against her back, stepped over her lover's waist, where he lay barely alive in the grass of the park. One foot a bit above Makoto's head on his right, the other foot near to where Hotaru sat on his left. She squatted down, putting her knees and her hands on the grass and looked back at Rei, who was still stroking his manhood. "Please, Rei, help guide..." Usagi said.

"Okay, okay," strangled out Rei. As Usagi balanced with the hand that still held her brooch, she reached back with the other hand to open herself, and Rei helped guide Mamoru into Usagi's most private place as Usagi slowly slid herself back upon him.

Six senshi moaned at the coupling, a set of wings fluttered, more than a few toes curled, and a certain fire senshi left her hand where it was for a bit longer than was strictly needed. Her heart pounding, Rei found that hand, her hand, moving up Usagi's body as Usagi sat up on top of her lover, adjusting him within her with a little wiggle that elicited more moans from everyone. Rei watched as her hand, seemingly on its own, was caressing the cute buttocks, brushing lightly up the back, moving between and then over the wings to rest lightly on her shoulder. Usagi, her lover now deep within, turned her head back to look at Rei, puzzled.

Their heads so close together, Rei looked deep into Usagi's eyes. "I know this isn't the time, but... I love you, Usagi," Rei blurted out.

"I know; I love you too, Rei," said Usagi, "but we're a little busy..."

"No!" Rei almost screamed. "I love you! Like he does!"

Usagi twisted at the waist, her rotating wings swooshing above where Ami and Makoto were already lying down beside her, one of her long blonde trails of hair briefly brushing across both their bodies. She reached with her free hand to grasp Rei behind the head, and drew her the short distance down, down into a fierce kiss.

Letting go of Rei, but keeping their faces close to each other, Usagi said fiercely, "I _know_, Rei. I love _you_, too. But I love _him_, too," she added, using her intimate muscles to squeeze tightly at Mamoru's manhood for emphasis (causing more moans from most of those around her). "How can I love you both?"

Rei, having no answer to that, was almost relived when Minako pulled her back from Usagi while saying incredulously, "Now? You pick _now_ to confess? We don't have time!"

"I'm sorry," Rei said, as Minako guided her into position beside the joined couple. "I promised myself I'd tell her before the crisis came, and... I thought I'd have more time."

"Everyone always does," said Setsuna as she walked to the side of the group, to perform her own last task; but she spoke quite softly, and no one heard her.

"Fine! Fine!" yelped Minako, as she pulled Rei down into the grass next to her. "Everyone loves everyone else to varying degrees and intensities! Now no more confessing from anyone!"

Usagi was just turning her head back from listening to her friends' banter, when she saw Setsuna walking back towards them all, with her Time Staff wedged under her arm and a squirming mooncat in each hand. Both cats were grasped quite firmly by the scruff of their necks and dangled from Setsuna's hands.

"This is extraordinarily indecorous!" protested Luna from Setsuna's left hand, while from her right Artemis merely muttered, "Is this strictly necessary?"

Setsuna halted at a point between Mamoru's feet, with Ami and Makoto lying on their sides to her left, and Rei and Minako beginning to position themselves likewise on the right. She held both cats up to meet her stern gaze. "Listen, neither your extreme prudence," she said, giving Luna a slight shake for emphasis, "nor your extreme reverence," shaking Artemis, "can be permitted to cause you to be anywhere other than precisely where I'm about to put you. I need Diana to be in the future, so that means..." and with that, she leaned over and shoved Artemis in between Rei's and Minako's nude bodies, just beneath their almost touching breasts. Quickly grabbing her staff from under her other arm with her now free right hand, Setsuna likewise shoved Luna in between Ami and Makoto, in the same position as Artemis.

"You've got to be kidding!" exclaimed both cats as one.

Makoto, now with Luna's fur firmly against her stomach, looked up at Setsuna's form. "I don't think she's kidding."

Luna stuck her head up and began to start to crawl out, saying, "I don't think..." only to be grabbed by Ami and shoved back down.

"Yes, you're _not_ thinking," Ami quietly but urgently said to Luna. "I've never, _ever_, seen Setsuna take direct action outside of an actual battle. Now she has. Only utter need would make her do this, so you stay right there!"

Luna sputtered indignantly, until Makoto reached down and ran her hand along the top of the mooncat's head and on down her back, murmuring, "Please stay with us Luna, you make me feel better, knowing you're here."

Luna subsided then, adding, "All right, but I'm keeping my eyes closed the whole time." Ami and Makoto felt her squirm down between them, her furry head bumping against the underside of their breasts slightly, and they smiled at each other.

Likewise, Rei and Minako reassured a blushing Artemis that they were fine with him being there. "But no licking," added Rei, unable to resist.

"Oh, a friendly lick now and then can be nice," joked Minako as she ran a finger down her cat's back.

Artemis, extremely aware of their breasts right in front of his head, could only croak out a strangled, "Minako!" in protest. Rei and Minako chuckled at his embarrassment.

But Minako looked back up from where she was calming Artemis, to look at Rei's face, so close to her own. Moving her hand from Artemis up to Rei, she caressed her friends face, and whispered, "We don't have time."

While cats were being settled, Usagi leaned forward, careful of Hotaru's still glowing hand upon his chest, to brush her hand along Mamoru's face. "Please wake up, my love," she said, beseeching him, and moving her hips upon him. She felt him slide within her, still throbbing, evidence she could feel that he was still with her. Her friends beside and behind her gave voice to her feelings, gasping as they felt inside themselves the ghostly echoes of his movement inside her.

Ami, on her side facing away from Usagi, lifted her bare arm and slid it along the inside of Usagi's leg. Twisting her head around, she called to her friend, "Usagi. Get Hotaru to sit in front of you, and put your arms around her. Hold the Crystal in your left hand, and channel its power through your left side, down your arm to your leg and into me." She squeezed Usagi's leg to make clear her intent. "Then Makoto and I will amp it, send it over to Rei and Minako, who will send it back into your other leg. Then give it all to Hotaru. While trying to wake Mamoru up. Can... can you do all that?"

Usagi, having sat up again as Ami spoke, nodded. "If that's what I have to do, I'll do it," she said simply. Usagi then turned to Hotaru, and opened her arms. "Hotaru," she said, "please help me save him."

Hotaru nodded and, still keeping one hand upon Mamoru's chest, turned around awkwardly, and slid one leg over Mamoru's still form. She straddled him, shivering slightly from the unfamiliar touch of actual male flesh between her naked thighs. Usagi gently wrapped her arm around Hotaru and helped her slide back to press against Usagi's front, opening her own thighs a bit to let Hotaru slide her feet back between Usagi's legs and Mamoru's hips. Hotaru realized she'd have to keep her weight on her legs on the ground, lest even her slight frame press down on Mamoru's abdomen and interfere more with his already shallow breathing. So she found herself astride him, but essentially on all fours, with both her hands on his chest and aglow, as she continued to pour what little healing she had left into him. Usagi leaned forward and pressed against Hotaru's back, hugging her with one arm while holding the Silver Crystal within the brooch with her other hand, away from Hotaru's body. Hotaru gasped, feeling both the ghostly echo of the slight movement of Mamoru's member within Usagi as Usagi moved, and the very real press of Usagi's breasts against her back.

Behind them, Minako raised her arm to grasp Usagi's other leg, and Rei and Makoto reached across Mamoru's legs to join hands. Hotaru twisted her head to the side, and said quietly to Usagi, "Sailor Moon, no matter what happens, don't stop."

Usagi, already trying to juggle in her mind all the things she was about to try to do simultaneously, could only reply, "Wha... what do you mean?"

Hotaru hissed fiercely, "No matter what! Don't stop!" Then, more quietly, she added, "Chibi-usa needs a planet to play on."

Minako shouted out, "Everyone in position and ready?" Everyone touching and around Usagi squeezed and murmured their readiness. Hotaru closed her eyes and lowered her head, concentrating. Usagi lowered her head as well, putting her forehead to the nape of Hotaru's neck.

Setsuna placed herself a bit below where Makoto's and Rei's feet stretched to, and looked to Haruka on one side of the group and Michiru on the other. Both had their talisman in their hands, with their backs to Usagi, and were carefully within reach of their winged compadre. Both nodded to Setsuna, who nodded in return. Setsuna called, "We're ready to shield you, Minako," and then quickly turned to face away from them all, carefully bracing her Time Staff in front of her. One of the tears she was holding inside with all her might broke free then, slowly falling down Setsuna's face.

"Shield us then!" commanded Minako, adding in a quieter tone, "Usagi... channel the Crystal's power, and wake Mamoru up, please."

Usagi nodded, causing her forehead to rub against Hotaru's nape. Even as she began to draw upon the power of the Crystal, a shield appeared around the senshi, and the mooncats, and the glaive driven into the soft ground, and the man whose life and the planet he was linked to, that they were about to try and save.

Six sigils lit up as one, as the Silver Crystal glowed in Usagi's grasp. With a desperate smile, Rei and Minako pressed their sigils together, and both gasped at the joining. Ami and Makoto gave a quick kiss, and joined their sigils as well. Hotaru felt the shining sigil of Usagi against her skin, and knew the sigil of Saturn was shining on her own forehead, while her hands still glowed upon the man beneath her.

For the six thus joined, sigil to sigil or skin to skin, they began to feel as one, as Usagi both drew the Crystal's power within her, and with her hips moving slowly began to make love in earnest to the man she loved.

Usagi closed her eyes and concentrated on drawing the Crystal's power within her, instead of using it to blast at an outside foe. She visualized the flow of power as a long, glowing pipeline, that began to stretch from the Crystal in her left hand up her arm, down the left side of her body, and down her leg, flowing from her leg where Ami grasped it, into Ami's hand and arm. Once this mental connection was made, Usagi focused on keeping the power flow going, even as she moved her hips and squeezed with her most private muscles, grasping at Mamoru's throbbing inside her, and sliding slightly up and down upon him. Briefly, the strange thought flitted through her mind that maybe this is kind of what a circus clown felt like when riding a unicycle and juggling at the same time.

Ami felt the flow of power enter her hand where it grasped Usagi's leg. She visualized it as a twined rope of glowing copper filaments that were quickly moving through her. Having been joined thus with Makoto a few times before, the two were fairly used to the strange sensation of memory sharing between them, and experiencing both their own and the other's body at the same time. Mentally settling on a level of mind-sharing between them that shared mostly their immediate sensations rather than long-term memories, Ami and Makoto bent the copper strands between them, arching in giant loops. Ami sent it to Makoto in an arch, and Makoto took it and looped it back in another, the glow of the power contained within increasing with each transfer between them, forming a long helix of looped power. Soon, both felt the strain on their bodies of the power level they'd reached, and as one they sent the amplified power out of Makoto's arm where she grasped Rei's.

Although Minako had previously been mentally joined like this with Hotaru briefly, this was the first time she had been linked with Rei; and this was Rei's first time thus linked with anyone. So for the first few moments, the two mentally danced, as memories were shared unexpectedly, as well as each feeling the other feeling their bodies from within. Rei was a bit shocked by learning from Minako's thoughts that her feelings for Usagi had long since been realized by not only Minako, but Ami and Makoto as well, and that the three had been wondering when Rei would admit it to herself. Minako was shaken by how much of Rei's nature was tied to her status as a miko and the spiritual learning that went with it. The two began to see more of each other's memories, and of their senshi natures of fire and of love, but then Minako mentally yanked them both back up from those lower depths, and they wobbled together, clinging and fighting to stabilize themselves right as power came into Rei's hand and arm.

Rei immediately saw this vast power as a flowing river of flame, and flame was something she had no trouble manipulating. With an ease that surprised them both, Rei arched the flame over to Minako who arched it back in return, until loop after loop of amplified fire flowed between them. Feeling their bodies both trembling, Minako directed the final loop up her own arm, feeding it back to Usagi.

Usagi felt the power come back into her body, and was astonished at the difference. As used as she was to the nearly incalculable level of power that the Silver Crystal contained, that same power had been increased by her friends by an immeasurable amount. Quickly she envisioned a pipeline for that power, traveling from her right leg to where the sigil of the moon was shining on her forehead. Channeling all that power, every bit of it, into the body of the small senshi of death and rebirth, with her glowing hands that could heal.

Usagi could feel Hotaru's body tense and tremble, her arm around the younger girl's midriff, and her nipples and stomach rubbing softly against the girl's back as she moved upon Mamoru. Though her eyes were closed and her head pressed against the slender form, Usagi could tell the glow from Hotaru's hands had increased, and she prayed that Mamoru would awake soon and keep some of the healing power for himself, rather than all of it spread out into the Earth.

"They're coming," said Setsuna. The six grouped on the ground did not hear her, but the two other talisman-wielding senshi did. Haruka took a breath, intending to say the obvious pun; Michiru took a breath, intending to stop Haruka from saying it, but neither had the chance. For the machines were upon them, not approaching from a direction, not flying through the air towards them, but there, now, there, slamming against the shield, thousands upon thousands upon thousands.

Through the shimmering of the shield that the three held with their talismans, they could see that these machines were similar to the ones they had all destroyed earlier in the day. These were larger, although of the same mysterious grey-silver metal-ceramic material as the previous ones. Strangely resembling flying trashcans, there was a slightly larger partition at the top of the cylindrical machines, from where multiple protrusions streamed out deadly cold. From the bottom erupted various probing instruments, from blunt hammers of incredible slamming force, to thin needles used to stab and slice, and others that moved too fast to make sense of whatever their function might be.

All three of them shook, as it seemed that mountains fell upon them. The machines howled in literal cold fury, slamming themselves and their instruments and the cold against the shield, seeming to be driven to mechanical madness at this last final resistance to their dominion over the planet. Every place upon the shield was attacked, where it met the ground, where it joined together bare centimeters above their heads, and most of all right before their faces. As each trembled, pouring all their strength into their talismans and thence into the shield before them, the machines pounded and cut and tore at the fragile bubble that was all that remained upon the Earth of light and of love and of life.

The six grouped together could hear the tortured battle that waged around them, but only distantly, as all their focus was on their own desperate struggle. To thrust hips, frantic, and even now sending its deep pleasure through them all. To raise a thigh between the legs of a lover or friend to match the pleasure being sent along with the energy flowing through the two of you, as a mooncat trembles between you. To pull energy from the crystal. To direct and grow it between and amongst them. To take it back and give it to the only one of them that might use it, heal with it, pouring the energy into her, life's and love's last desperate stand.

Even afterword, none of them knew how long it lasted, what the duration of that never-ending assault could have possibly been. But suddenly, there came a pause, a moment, a heartbeat or two, when the machines pulled back. The attack stopped, and only then did all realize the hideous sounds that had been battering them, from the cold machines that sought to destroy them all and cover even this last bare patch of Earth with ice and death. Only then, in that brief instant, could all of them hear the other sound that had been echoing through the little bubble of life. The sound of Hotaru screaming.

The ones with their eyes closed could not see. The ones standing could not spare a bare instant to turn to look. The mooncats wedged between their senshi friends dared not even twitch a whisker. But all could hear in the sound of the smallest senshi's screams the most pure form of agony. Any being making such a sound must be afire down to its smallest cell, writhing in unimaginable pain and torment. It was Ami who realized why, and the realization spread with the flow of power through all the rest of them thus entwined: that precious healing ability was Hotaru's gift, not Sailor Saturn's power.

Within the form of the senshi of death and rebirth, the raw and amplified energy they were channeling was being converted to heal, yes, but not healing via the power and strength of a Sailor Senshi. It was by the minor, oh so very minor, ability of the young girl Hotaru Tomoe. The ability that the girl could use even when not transformed into the senshi, because it was the girl's alone. Was that ability to heal shallow wounds and gashes, or a trivial burn or cut, a gift from whatever gods may be, as the least possible compensation for the death that was Sailor Saturn's lot to wield? Was it the girl's own attempt to express her love of life in some way or fashion, to protest that which was her deadly duty? None of them knew, nor would likely ever know. But what they were doing to Hotaru was akin to shoving a vast waterfall through a squirt gun, or the whole stellar output of a sun through the fragile form of a firefly.

There could be no way she could last, no possible method by which Hotaru could take in the energy meant to be used by a senshi, and convert it to the healing power flowing from the hands of a young girl. Yet she was. Somehow, she was. For Usagi could feel the increased throbbing of the member inside her, and felt the thrusting of her hips down upon him met by the instinctive thrusting of his hips up in return. It was working.

From Minako's memory, flowing through the link to them all, came the words uttered two weeks previously (just two? only two?) by Hotaru herself, in a room at Rei's shrine, as Minako and Hotaru sat naked together between bouts of Usagi's and Mamoru's lovemaking: _"I am not in the future. I don't get to be with Chibi-usa in Crystal Tokyo. She didn't know me, because I'm not there to know. I die before the end, Sailor Venus. The rest of you live. I don't."_

Thus all of them entwined realized together that the life of their king-to-be, and that of life on the planet Earth itself, all of it, was going to be bought at the cost of Hotaru's.

Even as, though she knew it not, the machines were turning to rush again at the fragile barrier of the shield, Usagi for the briefest of moments, a bare scintilla of time, faltered. Hotaru's life was not a cost she would pay, not one she _could _pay. The form within her arms, that she now knew was writhing in incomprehensible pain even while trying to heal everything everywhere, was too high a price. Usagi's fingers twitched around the brooch within which the Silver Crystal lay, and she...

An image and a phrase came into her mind, a backflow along the torrent of power, from Hotaru's mind. The image of a pink-haired little girl, with her hair done up in pointy odango style, smiling and laughing as she played among flowers with her older friend, and they chased butterflies. And the phrase, "Don't stop."

Deep within her mind then, as the machines rushed in, Sailor Moon grieved as never before, and leaving behind forever the innocence of the girl Usagi she had been, neo-Queen Serenity made the first and by far most terrible decision of her long, long reign... and she did not stop.

Machines crashed again against the barrier, the noise terrible but no longer hiding from senshi ears the more terrible screams from one they all loved. Hips moved, together, two pairs now instead of only one. A man, healing, fighting up from the depths of unconsciousness, from near death, starting to wake up, oh at last, his body moving in the most primal of fashions with the woman he loves. Energy flowing, growing, moving and looping and poured into a vessel far far too small, but poured in all the same, going from the vessel of a girl into the man and from him into the soil and plants and people and life. Three of vast power struggling to resist mountains of killing cold.

Mamoru's eyes opened; a strangled cry of "Usag-" from his lips; a spasm of male release shooting inside his beloved; five figures writhing in shared orgasm; one figure writhing in solitary torture; wings outstretched in pleasure and triumph and grief; a shield shattering into shards like blasted hope.

Haruka and Michiru twisted as one, swinging their talismans as the remnants of the shield disintegrated about them. The flat of the sword and the back of the mirror just touched, oh, just barely touched, the most outstretched feathers upon the wings of Sailor Moon in her orgasm, as in the same moment Setsuna's desperately extended staff touched the small of her arching back, the three standing senshi making the barest of contact with their Queen as the cold took them all, all. Buried them all, under the ice.

The machines of cold and ice held no triumph. No victory dance of mechanical delight was performed as the last patch of Earth succumbed to their preprogrammed assault. The order to convert the planet to their alien owners' liking had been given, and that order had been obeyed. The machines awaited the next order to be performed.

An order which never came. The alien owners were already defeated, already dead, sent down screaming into whatever version of hell their alien minds conceived of, by the Sailor Senshi in their initial battle.

Defeat never entering the mind of the arrogant aliens, there was no contingency program loaded, nothing else the machines had been commanded to do in the case of their owners no longer being there to direct them. So the order most recently given was continued: cover the planet in cold and ice. Thus the machines did, and would continue to do, until told otherwise. The millions upon millions of machines moved, almost randomly, over the surface of the Earth, maintaining the magical ice, cultivating the continuous cold. The only sound upon the planet was the faint whine of the moving machines, and that only barely, as much of even the atmosphere itself was frozen by the alien magics within the machines.

And yet.

There, in the place where under the slowly accumulating ice, the frozen figures of the fallen senshi still were caught as they were in that final instant, there was something. Something small. Something infrequent. But occasionally, terribly rare, there would come from a frozen crystal held in a frozen female hand, a vast surge of power. The surge would travel slowly, very slowly, up a frozen arm and down one side of a frozen body, to ooze into another frozen body beside it. It would travel between that and another, back and forth, to crawl at last, larger than it had been, along an arm into another arm. Twixt and tween that frozen form and the one it clasped, loop over loop; then the surge left an arm and entered a leg, now being larger still. It traveled up the leg, through the body, and (with just a bit, a mere trickle, of the flow diverted to, almost sucked out by, three other figures in barest contact with the main) then the flow went out the forehead into the nape of the neck of the last female. There the surge changed, somehow given a new texture, a different form, and it slowly, extraordinarily slowly, flowed out of that frozen female form, through its hands, into a frozen male one. That male form caught a bit, the smallest bit, of that energy in itself, while the rest flowed through him down, down, down into the rest of the world below.

Thus the planet circled the sun, almost a thousand times, plodding through its orbit, a bright snowball in space. Ice above, rarely a smidgeon of energy below, and the lonely moon twirling sadly around it as they went.

Then with no outward indication, somewhere deep inside the alien programming of the machines that still, still, spread cold and ice upon the Earth, a timer overflowed. None of the creators of these terrible machines imagined that so long a time between commands would ever pass, thus no fail-safes were programmed for that condition. So an error was created, and in the programming of the machines, the error cascaded up and up and up, through the terrible logic, each layer having no program to run for it, until the entire machines' processes were in errored conflict. The aliens not being utter fools, they had included one final handler for any machine that entered an unexpected logic state: it turned itself off, completely, to await hands-on maintenance. Maintenance that none would ever receive.

Thus in the space of mere minutes, every alien machine that had held the poor Earth in icy bondage for nearly a thousand years, turned itself off and plummeted, dead, to smash upon the ice. The dread and alien magics that had been merged with their pitiless technology, that had helped to keep the unnatural ice upon the planet, were at last no more. The sun, seemingly free at last to do its job, shone down upon the Earth, the ice not melting away but fading out of existence as the sun beat down upon it, the magic that had sustained the ice no longer doing so.

The ice disappeared almost as quickly as it had come, as each part of the liberated Earth turned and the Sun shone its warming light upon it. At the last uncovered, as it had been the last to be covered, was the little park in the little suburb near Tokyo, with the frozen figures of the fallen, the light of the dawn coming to shine upon them after so very very long. Within minutes, as elsewhere, the ice that encased them was gone.

A figure shivered. A feather twitched. Then almost as one, the figures standing fell, the figure with wings outspread collapsed upon the back of the figure before it, a male with raised hips felt them fall back to the crackling half-frozen grass, his love's weight atop him. All there, man and women and feline, twitched and trembled upon the ground, muscles screaming from so long frozen in place. But breathing. Together. Alive.

Slowly they rose, helping each other, hugging or kissing or petting or all three, as they all pulled each other back up, to stand together upon an ice-free Earth as dawn broke over them. All standing. All alive. All well.

All... but one.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"We couldn't wake her up."

Sailor Mercury's words felt to Sailor Chibimoon as if they were lying heavily on her heart. The pink-haired senshi had long since curled up her knees to her chest, holding them to her with her arms wrapped around them. She wanted to put her head down and stop listening, stop hearing this terrible and embarrassing tale, but she kept her head up, listening, feeling her eyes redden and a tear or two escaping, now and again, despite her best efforts.

"We tried. Over and over, everything we could think of. Nothing worked," continued Sailor Mercury, unable to keep the sadness from her tone.

The Princess just had to put her head down then, her forehead on her knees as her arms clasped her legs, folding in on herself, even pulling her wings in close. Becoming a little ball, a ball that didn't want to hear anymore, at least not right now. The others didn't push, letting her take what time she needed.

Eventually, more composed, she raised her eyes up again. Not everyone was looking at her, for which she was thankful, but Sailor Mars caught the Princess' eye. Sailor Mars, apologetic and solemn, said gently to her, "You asked."

Sailor Chibimoon could only nod, a little. She had asked, and now, she knew.

"What... happened after that?" she managed to get out, her voice feeling strange after listening so long.

"Well," replied Sailor Mercury, "we had to start to try to rebuild some kind of society, starting with helping keep the few human survivors alive. The ones we could reach, at least."

"None of our own families made it through," said Sailor Venus, looking off past everyone, obviously remembering the family members she and the others had lost.

"Survival rates were roughly related to distance from us here in Japan," Sailor Mercury continued. "The healing pulses that were sent out also worked better on lower life forms - plants, the simpler animals - than on the higher ones, like mammals... livestock, pets... people. So in Japan, perhaps one in a thousand or so people survived. In the Americas, perhaps one in a hundred thousand."

"Those first years were very very hard," added Sailor Mars. "Just because the ice went away quickly, all the damage it had done to everything over the centuries was still there."

"We weren't knocked back quite to the Stone Age, but it was close," contributed Sailor Jupiter.

Sailor Mercury continued, "Which made it even harder with all the babies that started being born pretty quickly."

Sailor Chibimoon asked before she thought, "Babies?"

Sailor Mercury answered, "Normal human response, really. When people survive something so cataclysmic, they usually begin to repopulate rather promptly."

"Plus they just want to celebrate still being alive," Sailor Venus added.

Sailor Moon looked gently at her daughter, saying softly, "That's about the same time you came along. We," she glanced at her husband, squeezing his hand, "wanted to celebrate just being alive, too."

Sailor Chibimoon felt her face going red again, as it had seemed to do so very many times as she'd listened to her parents and everyone else tell her of the events of that horrible day so long ago. But she remembered one detail from their long tale of that day, and just had to ask, "Um... Sailor Mars...?"

Sailor Mars looked at the Princess expectantly, eyebrow raised.

"They said that you... that you confessed to mama that day?" the Princess squeaked out.

Sailor Mars smiled, and looked over to Sailor Moon, who smiled back. Without a word, Sailor Mars rolled from her sitting position to all fours, and began to sensuously crawl across the grass toward the Queen. As the others looked on in bemusement, and the Princess sat there almost in shock, Sailor Mars crawled right by the King. On reaching Sailor Moon, she rose up on her knees in front of the Queen, and the Queen, still sitting, leaned forward to meet her. The two kissed, passionately, not in the manner of putting on a display or a show, but the simple bare passion of those who love each other deeply. To the Princess' surprise, the King simply looked on while smiling at the two.

At last, as Sailor Mars pulled back again, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, neo-Queen and King, turned to each other and kissed. Their passion and love for each other was again just as evident as the kiss they'd shared way up above in the Outer Throne Pavilion, back at the beginning of what the Princess was beginning to think of as the longest day of her life.

As the Princess' parents pulled apart, Sailor Mars moved over a bit to sit again along the edge of the rough circle, but this time quite close to Sailor Moon. All three of them looked over at Sailor Chibimoon, who was looking back quite dumbfounded.

Sailor Moon simply said, "I love them both."

Sailor Mars added, "And your father and I care for each other very deeply. All of us," she continued, sweeping her hand to include all the other senshi as well, "care about each other deeply."

The Princess could only blurt out, "Mama, aren't you supposed to pick one?"

Her mother smiled wryly, "Back in the twentieth century, yes, I would be expected to pick one. And to pick your father as that one, as well. But what's the point of being Queen if you can't change silly rules like that?"

Sailor Chibimoon only shook her head, in disbelief. "Why... why didn't you ever tell me?"

It was Sailor Mercury who replied, "Because they couldn't. When you went back to the twentieth century, you obviously didn't know about the various relationships between us all, so we didn't dare tell you until all your traveling was complete."

"But I did everything Puu told me I had to do when I was back there. I didn't say any of the things I wasn't supposed to, did I?" the Princess replied, confused.

"You did everything you were told exactly right, Small Lady," said Sailor Pluto.

"But there was at least one thing where it wasn't what you did, it's what you didn't do," added Sailor Venus. At the questioning look from the Princess, she continued, "While you knew who all of us were, or at least knew of our senshi roles, it's true that you didn't say anything, just as we asked you not to. But you weren't really surprised by it, either. So since you didn't know Sailor Saturn before going back to that time, you were as surprised as we all were, back then, when that's who Hotaru turned out to be.

"And Hotaru noticed. She figured out that you didn't know her when you went back, because she wasn't here in this time for you to know. So she knew that, although all the rest of us would make it to be here in Crystal Tokyo... she wouldn't."

Sailor Chibimoon could not help but turn a bit, glancing towards the top of the hill. "She did it anyway?" she could only whisper.

"Yes," answered her father, "she did it anyway. She knew she was the only one who could. She not only saved me, but everyone else who managed to survive the ice. She could not save everything, or everyone, but she saved enough. Every living thing, every single one, owes its existence to her. The blades of grass," he gestured around at them as he listed them, "the trees, the flowers, worms in the soil," he gestured up to the world above them, "every bird, every bee, whales, dolphins, tigers, every insect, maybe every germ and virus. All of them, because of her and what she... sacrificed."

Sailor Venus spoke again, "I was the only one of us to link minds with Hotaru, even though it was very brief, before the ice came. But I know, from linking with her, that she didn't do what she did to save the grass, or the birds, or the dolphins. Or even for us. Small Lady... she did it for you."

Her mother added softly, "She said you needed a planet to play on."

Sailor Chibimoon stood, eyes blank, and turned sharply around, wings fluttering as she did so. She quickly marched, blindly moving, unthinking, for a dozen paces, then collapsed with a thud to sit upon the thick green grass and began crying. Deep heaving sobs shook her entire small frame, for this was finally, finally much much too much. For a long time she sat there, shaking, the idea of what her friend had done for her, for _her_, being too large for her heart to encompass it.

It was quite a while later, after her tears had mostly stopped, that another figure quietly came up beside her. Sailor Chibimoon kept staring blankly at the grass in front of her, as the figure crouched down, habitually smoothed her skirt down behind her, and then sat beside the Princess. Neither moved or spoke for a long time, until the Princess finally looked over, to be surprised at who was there.

Sailor Venus nodded, and asked softly, "Better?" while handing her a container of tissues.

The Princess nodded, took the tissues and pulled a few out, wiping at her eyes and face, and finally blowing her nose. She looked at the tissues in her hand, wondering what to do with them, when Sailor Venus pulled a bag out from somewhere an opened it, offering the end to the Princess, who stuffed them in. Sailor Venus put them off to the side.

"I didn't know you'd brought tissues with you," said the girl, just to be saying something.

"We keep them down here. It's a sad place," replied Sailor Venus.

"I'm... I'm surprised you came over."

Sailor Venus smiled, just a little. "Rei was busy trying to convince your mother that if she came over you'd both reinforce each other into total meltdown, and that she herself should come to you. Your father was telling Rei that she may not be your favorite person right now. When he started to come over, they both told him you needed a 'woman's touch'. So I came over, so they could all stop." She shook her head, adding, "It's usually fun to watch them argue, but... not today."

The Princess turned back to just looking blankly at the grass. "I don't know how... I... feel. About that... mama and them... yet."

"Understandable. If we could have let you grow up with all of us being open about everything, it would have just been the normal way things are, as far as you ever knew. But we couldn't do that, because you had to go back into the past, where things like that were much, much different." Sailor Venus sighed, before continuing, "So please remember, for your parents' sake at least, that they couldn't always be as open about things the way they wanted to."

"I wish... I just wish I'd known..." The Princess shook her head, unable to find the words.

Sailor Venus exhaled heavily. "Yes, well it wasn't always easy for us to be... discreet around you. Although being able to teleport out of a bedroom is handy when a certain little girl unexpectedly wants to sleep with mama and papa."

Sailor Chibimoon's mind flashed back to when she was much younger, and would try to surprise her mama and papa by coming to sleep with them. She shook her head again, remember how flushed her parents had been sometimes, and now understanding why.

Then she had a thought, and said to Sailor Venus, "Wait... you said that like... you were there, too..."

Sailor Venus looked over at the Princess. "Sometimes, yes."

The Princess in turn, just looked back, blinking. She felt like all of herself had gone numb, so there wasn't anything left in her with which to react. "Not just Lady Rei, then?" she whispered.

Sailor Venus gave a heavy sigh. "You see... well. Remember when you were very small, and used to have playmates your own age to play with?"

At the Princess' weary nod, Sailor Venus prompted, "And what happened...?"

The Princess thought back to those times, and those unhappy memories. "They'd always grow up past me, and wouldn't want to play with me anymore."

"Well," the senshi in orange continued, "it's kind of been like that for the rest of us, with normal people. We can have relationships with others, but... then we watch, as they grow old and die. After a while, you realize that you... you can't do it anymore. It hurts too much." Sailor Venus paused, obviously lost in her own memories. "I had a husband once."

Sailor Venus ignored the jerk of shock from Sailor Chibimoon, and continued, "You were very very young so I'm sure you don't remember. He and I loved each other very much. To begin with anyway. But as he grew old, and I didn't... he grew to hate me just as strongly as once he'd loved me." She sighed. "I like to think I made that mistake for all of us, so nobody else had to go through it. But after that... like I said before, we all realized that, pretty much, each other is all we have. Including the physical side of things. So we all... share. Some often, some not, some stay in their groups usually..." she shrugged.

"Groups?" asked the Princess, confused.

"Well, that's not the right word, I guess. Hmm... You've always known Haruka and Michiru are together, right?"

"Yeah, that was obvious even back in the twentieth century."

"Very true. And now you know about your father and mother and Rei..."

The Princess looked down again, and just nodded slightly.

Sailor Venus continued, "Ami and Makoto are a pair, as well."

"Um, I realized that just... recently," the Princess managed to say, thinking back to looking through a certain wall.

Sailor Venus simply said, "Ah, I see. Well, that's how we're usually... with each other, I guess is the way to put it."

"So... then you and Puu..."

"Ah!" Sailor Venus quickly waved her hands. "No, no. Sailor Pluto is... distant about that kind of thing. Most things, actually. Perhaps she's with Uranus and Neptune, sometimes, but I really don't know. She's not really open about that kind of thing... well, you know how she is."

The Princess nodded; she did indeed know how remote Sailor Pluto could be. "So then... you're all alone?"

Sailor Venus smiled. "No, I just love everybody." Then she paused, frowning slightly. "I probably could have worded that better."

The Princess, with a puzzled look, asked, "So you've been... with... everyone?"

Sailor Venus nodded. "Excepting Sailor Pluto, yes. Some more often than others. Pretty much everyone has been with everyone occasionally, again excepting Sailor Pluto. Heh; even Haruka and Michiru were with the King at least once. I think they were curious."

The Princess asked in a very small voice, "Did mama know?"

Sailor Venus blinked, startled by the question. "Oh, yes! Yes, of course! She was there too; they don't hide anything from each other. Neither one would ever do anything without the other knowing about it and approving. I don't even know of any time when one has been with someone without the other being there, too. They come as a matched set." She paused, bowed her head, shaking it ruefully, adding, "I probably could have worded that better, too."

Sailor Chibimoon just looked back down at the grass. Part of her wondered if on most days she'd be laughing at Sailor Venus' misstatements, but not today. "I guess it's... hard for me to... think about you all... doing that stuff."

Sailor Venus sighed. "It wasn't exactly easy for us to come to grips with everything. You're seeing it now only after we've figured out what works for us, as a group. And learning the hard way what doesn't work." She paused.

"It's taken us almost a thousand years to get to be this... casual about it. I guess after linking with someone's mind, sharing bodies with each other isn't as big a deal. Not that that's not still an intimate thing to do... more like everything else is also intimate, too. Or maybe that's just because we've been around each other for so very long now. After sharing so much else, sharing ourselves as well..." Sailor Venus shrugged. "Either way. I just know there isn't anyone down here that I wouldn't gladly be with, whenever they wanted to."

Sailor Venus, smiling, turned to look back over at Sailor Chibimoon, and was surprised to see her looking back with very wide eyes of disbelief.

"Um, no," Sailor Venus said quickly, glancing towards the rest of the group who were still sitting in the circle, waiting patiently. "I didn't mean the cats! No, sorry, misspoke! Again."

But Sailor Venus saw the Princess, still with very wide eyes, simply raise her hand and point a finger to herself.

"Ah! You! Um, no, I didn't mean with you... well, I don't mean I _wouldn't_ with you or... " Sailor Venus slammed her mouth shut with an audible click. She shook her head, muttering, "Senshi of Love should be way better at this..." She sighed, then scooted around on the grass, turning to face Sailor Chibimoon directly.

"Small Lady," Sailor Venus said in an almost formal tone, "I would never have thought to offer that to you, nor to ask it of you. I'm sorry for even hinting at it, and I will not bring it up in the future. But... if I wake up some day and find you in my bed, I will not kick you out of it."

The Princess could only look back, stunned. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything," replied Sailor Venus. "_I'm_ certainly shutting up now. Maybe I can pull my feet out of my mouth and we can walk back to the rest?" She rose, brushing the grass off her skirt, and offered the Princess her hand.

Sailor Chibimoon reached up, hesitantly, and took the proffered hand, and stood up with Sailor Venus' assistance. They dropped each other's hand, and the pair slowly walked back to where the others' still sat. The Princess retook the spot near her mother, while Sailor Venus continued on to the other side of the circle and sat between Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Pluto.

"Dare I ask what you were chatting about?" said Sailor Jupiter to Sailor Venus.

Who replied, "Oh, I just let her know how the rest of us were paired off, and how everybody's pretty much sleeping with everybody else."

"_Mina!_" was the shocked cry that escaped from at least five or six senshi lips.

Sailor Venus shrugged. "We're not hiding things from her anymore, correct? Right? Well, then let's stop hiding stuff from her."

Sailor Mercury sighed and reached to the front of her senshi uniform, pulling out from behind the large bow a tattered and worn yen note. She handed it to Sailor Jupiter, who took it and placed it behind her own bow, while shaking her head.

The Princess glanced around the circle. Her mother was still staring at Sailor Venus, while her father had his hand to his forehead, as if his head hurt. She glanced on, seeing Sailor Mars, who smiled, very tentatively, in return; but she was not ready to deal with that, or with Sailor Mars, yet, so she quickly turned her gaze to the opposite end of the circle.

She saw Sailor Uranus, smiling, lift Sailor Neptune's hand to her lips, while saying, "At last! Our love need no longer hide!"

Sailor Neptune smiled in return, "Yes! Take me, my sweet!"

Sailor Chibimoon felt the corner of her mouth twitch, and knew that they were all acting like this, at least in part, to try to lift her spirits. But she just felt too full of confusion and hurt and terrible knowledge. Without thinking, she let her gaze move on around the circle to Sailor Pluto. Who returned the gaze of the Princess with a face so full of sorrow and compassion that the Princess had to tear her eyes away, for that too was more than she could deal with at the moment. She returned to just gazing at the grass in the middle of them all, here in the underground garden.

As she just sat and let her jumbled thoughts run away through her head, looking at the grass, the phrase 'underground garden' bubbled it's way to the top of her thoughts. More from a desire to say something, anything, she asked, "Mama?"

The others instantly ceased their playacting. Sailor Moon looked over at her daughter, quietly replying, "Yes?"

Sailor Chibimoon looked around at the garden, and gestured at it all. "If this was where you fought, on that last day... why is it underground now?"

Her mother smiled. "Because we built up the earth and rock around it, and placed the palace on top of the new hill we'd created. That way we could protect both of the things most precious to us all, one above," she nodded her head upward, indicating the palace above them, "and one below," and tilted her head towards the figure atop the little hill they sat upon.

"What's being protected above?" the Princess asked, looking upwards in confusion.

When she looked back down, her mother smiled at her. She heard Sailor Uranus mutter, "Just like her mother." The Princess glanced around the circle again, seeing many shaking heads; even Diana, sitting over with her parents by Sailor Jupiter, had one paw to her face, shaking her head.

She looked back to her mother, who simply told her, "You, dear."

Her mouth in a silent 'Oh', the Princess felt her face blush, and she looked down again. Then she looked up, squinting her eyes at the light, even though less brilliant now that was almost evening. Thinking of all those years she'd spent in a palace made to protect her, while down here below was all this. She looked up the hill towards the figure that, at long last, she knew was there.

Another thought came bubbling up from the jumbled mass insider her, and she asked, still looking up the little hill, "I can see why you'd hide it, so no one else would know there was a senshi missing and everything. But why did you make the statue to remember Hotaru by so... horrible? Couldn't you have made her look nice?"

The Princess turned back to the others, and looked around the circle at them, to see every face frozen, still, in utter shock. Wondering what she'd said, what she'd done wrong, her gaze tore from face to face, frightened anew.

"Of course," muttered Sailor Mercury, "of course that's what she'd see..."

The Queen reached out, and took her daughter's hand, squeezing it softly. "My dear, we're so sorry. We've known for so long that... we didn't realize..." She stopped, hesitating, swallowing audibly. The Princess could only stare at her mother, not wanting to think, not wanting to know.

Sailor Moon said, very softly, not wanting to say the words at all, "Small Lady... oh my dearest one. That is not a statue of Hotaru. That _is_ Hotaru."

It seemed that there were, after all, still parts of herself that were not entirely numb. The Princess would never recall quite clearly the few minutes after that, other than in quick flashes of memory: her flying up the hill, like her mother centuries before, to throw herself against what she now knew _was_ her friend, the very flesh seemingly turned to stony ice. Her hands, bruised and bleeding, from tearing at the icy stone encasing Hotaru, begging her to wake up. The sound of her own strangled voice, screaming Hotaru's name, over and over. The hands of her parents and the senshi, trying to pull her away from breaking herself on the stone. Her own bleeding hands punching and slamming at Sailor Mars, who took the blows without resistance or complaint, as Sailor Moon tried to pull her daughter away.

But the others would never, could never, forget the sound that Sailor Chibimoon made, as she flew up the hill towards her long-lost friend, the soul-rending scream of the last fading fragments of childhood being shattered in her broken heart, and ripped away forever.

* * *

When the Princess came slowly back to awareness, she discovered that she was in her mother's arms, being gently rocked back and forth. She raised her hands, to see the gashes and rips in her gloves, stained faintly with her own blood. Sailor Moon stopped the rocking, but still held her child; she reached out and someone put a damp cloth in her hand, which she used to wipe the tears from her daughter's face.

Sailor Chibimoon knew that any other day she'd resent such attentions, especially from her mother, but that seemed too trivial a thing to matter now. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a faint croak emerged; her throat strained from her screams. Her father appeared beside her, and raised a cup to her lips, water from the nearby stream. She swallowed, the cool liquid soothing her throat. She looked up at her mother and whispered, "All those years... I was up there playing and laughing... and she was down here..."

Her mother bit her lip, struggling to keep her own composure. "This is what we were protecting you from, all this time," she whispered to her child. "I knew it would break your heart, so very much. Just as it breaks all of our hearts, too."

Her father, still at her side, said quietly, "That is the cost, and the burden. To try to live your life, up there, to laugh, to love... all while knowing that the one who made it all possible is still down here. That everything we've tried and done, to bring her back, has failed. She saved the Earth and all that live upon it... but she herself is still under the ice."

"You've... tried..."

Sailor Venus came into the Princess' view, kneeling down before the two parents supporting their child. "We've tried thousands and thousands and thousands of times. To wake her up, to bring her back. Different combinations of power flow, different combinations of our positions, different techniques, anything we've been able to think of. None of it has worked."

The King added, "That's what the Bacchanalia really is, for us. While the rest of the world relaxes and parties, and they think we're all retreating to get drunk or whatever, out of their view, what we're really doing is coming down here, again, to try to bring her back to us."

The Queen continued, "That's why we always have the world's military quietly on high alert, because after everyone has poured all their energy and heart and souls into trying to wake her up, we're terribly weak for days, and very vulnerable."

Her father said quietly, almost a whisper, into his daughter's ear, "I've had to carry them up the stairs sometimes. All of them, one time or another; sometimes all of them. They have nothing left."

The Princess looked up at her father, whispering, "You don't help..."

The King smiled sadly. "I am not a senshi. I can help sustain a life, with the power I do have," he said, holding up one hand and letting forth the faint golden glow with which he had sustained his daughter's life and very existence in the past. "But I cannot heal, nor help them wield a senshi's power, nor the Silver Crystal's. And this," he added, gesturing with his glowing hand while letting it fade away, "cannot reach through to Hotaru, no matter how much I've tried."

Sailor Chibimoon looked over, past her parents, past Sailor Venus who was still kneeling near them, to Hotaru, locked in her pose of agony. "She's still in there, then."

This time it was Sailor Mercury who came in front of them, kneeling down beside Sailor Venus. "We think she's in there, yes, but we're not entirely positive. Of all the tests of magic and science, with crystals and new tech and old tech, that I've been able to come up with, half of the tests can't penetrate that stone-like substance, and the other half claim there's nothing there at all."

The Princess swallowed. "So, she might be..."

It was Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune who stepped forward now, their faces grave. "I do not think she is dead, Small Lady," said Sailor Uranus. "Not entirely, at least. When Sailor Neptune and I, in our folly and desperation, tried to trick Sailor Galaxia, and we killed Sailor Saturn and Sailor Pluto, both the Silence Glaive and the Time Staff faded out of our world when they died. But as you can see," she gestured to the side of the figure of Hotaru, "the Silence Glaive still stands, precisely where Sailor Saturn placed it. None of us can move the Glaive."

Sailor Neptune added, "The Glaive obeys she who wields it. It will not move until she wishes it to do so."

"Also," added Sailor Venus, "those 'goodwill' tours I do, around the globe, are not really to remind the people of the world that the royals are still around. It's an excuse to visit as many schools as possible. Even though we have records on all the children, of course, that we search for prospects, I still go to see as many children as I possibly can... to see if any might be Hotaru reborn. I've never found her.

"I'm not sure she's still in there. But," Sailor Venus said, bowing her head to the Princess almost formally, "on that night when Hotaru and I, all by accident, discovered what our sigils permit us to do when we touch them together, and I learned from her that she knew she would not be here in Crystal Tokyo... Small Lady, I swore to Hotaru that I would do everything I could to let her see you again. So I will never, ever stop trying to bring her back."

"Nor will any of the rest of us," added Sailor Mars. The Princess turned her head to look at Sailor Mars, where she stood off to the side, a ways behind the King. Sailor Mars' face was bruised and battered, and even had a few small cuts. The Princess' eyes widened, and she whispered, "Did... did I do that?"

Sailor Mars simply nodded, adding quietly, "You had reason."

The Princess looked at her father's face, as he knelt beside her, and she felt her mother holding her. She looked back to Sailor Mars, and slowly shook her head. "No. No, I didn't." She paused, then added, "Sai... La..." She gulped. "I'm sorry, Rei."

Sailor Mars smiled a little, and just nodded again. The Princess felt her mother take one of her hands, and squeeze it gently, in thanks.

The Princess stood up then, slowly, moving from her mother's grasp to stand beside her, although with one hand upon her sitting mother's shoulder, to steady herself. She looked around, at her parents beside her, at Sailor Venus and Mercury, kneeling in the grass in front of her, at Sailor Uranus and Neptune, standing nearby. Then, steeling herself, she looked over at Hotaru, still there, still trapped or transformed or encased, she knew not which.

"Everyone," Sailor Chibimoon said, "can we try to wake her up, again?"

Smiles erupted upon the face of everyone around her, like dawn shooting across a landscape to throw back the night. Neo-Queen Serenity reached up and squeezed her daughter's hand again, saying, "We thought you might say that."

"But mama," the Princess interrupted, suddenly afraid again, "there's no more surprises, are there? Nothing else you're hiding from me?"

Sailor Moon shook her head as she stood up, still holding Sailor Chibimoon's hand. "No, no more surprises. You know everything now. No more secrets." The Princess, very tentatively, smiled in return.

Then they heard the soft thud behind them, and as one they both turned, to find Sailor Pluto fallen to her knees before them. To their mutual astonishment, Sailor Pluto prostrated herself before them, fully, head to the ground, her long green hair cascading down to seemingly merge with the green grass around her. For a heartbeat, then two, she remained thus.

Then Sailor Pluto raised her head to look up, so very far up, to both the Queen and the Princess above her, saying in a clear voice filled with infinite sorrow and regret, "Oh my Queen... how I _wish_ that that were true."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"You too, Puu?" said the Princess, visibly deflating as she stood next to her mother, her wings drooping behind her.

"What do you mean?" the Queen sharply addressed the senshi of time.

"Excuse me, Small Lady; I do not mean that there are more secrets that have been kept only from you," explained Sailor Pluto, as she slowly raised her upper body from the position of supplication, though she remained on her knees. "These are things that I have kept from everyone. Now that you have finally been told of the terrible events of that day, I can at last, before all of you, admit to my crimes."

"_Crimes?_" said several voices as one.

"I have manipulated the members of the royal court and royal family without their consent or knowledge. I have assaulted the person of neo-Queen Serenity directly. I have blatantly, woefully, and without permission directly reconfigured the entire lifeline of the Princess, and thus indirectly everyone else's as well. And perhaps worst, I have betrayed you all in battle." Sailor Pluto bowed her head again, concluding her self-condemnation.

"These are serious charges, Sailor Pluto, even if you're making them against yourself," said the King, coming to stand on the other side of his daughter. "But need we address them here, and now?"

"I am sorry, my King, truly," replied Sailor Pluto, "but until now the needs of protection of the timeline that is my burden prevented me from admitting or revealing my deeds. With the Princess now knowing the fate of Sailor Saturn, my need for silence is ended. What little remains of what could once have been called my conscience, will not let me remain silent any longer."

Sailor Chibimoon wobbled a bit, yet another turn of events making her head seem to swim. Her mother quickly put a hand on the girl's shoulder to steady her. Then the Queen sat back down on the ground, and gently guided her daughter back into her, to sit on her lap.

The King, having paused while his wife and daughter resituated themselves, sighed heavily. "Very well, then, Sailor Pluto. Explain yourself, then," he said, waving the others over.

The others came back over to form a rough semi-circle, with Sailor Pluto at its center. The mooncats stayed a bit outside, slightly behind Sailor Mercury, with Artemis on one side silently preventing Diana from proceeding forward, while on the other Luna made quiet shushing sounds at her daughter. Sailor Pluto remained on her knees before everyone, facing the royal family directly in front of her, while the others stood, looking down upon her.

"First," she quietly began, "I have manipulated all of you, at one time or another, to make people and events turn out as required to maintain this timeline, all without your knowledge or permission."

"Manipulate how, exactly?" asked Sailor Mercury.

"I can use one example of how I manipulated you, Sailor Mercury, to explain." Sailor Pluto's eyes then seemed to look off into the distance, in a direction that none of the others could see, and her voice took on a tone of detached remoteness. "Five hundred and twenty-three years ago, Sailor Mercury, in your standard guise of Lady Ami you visited the Royal Library one day to look up a particular book, in the old archives section. It was not on the shelf it should have been on according to the classification system in use in the library at that time, which puzzled you as it was not a book that was likely to be sought out by anyone else. As you turned to go, you happened to glance at the shelf below it, upon which stood, among others, the book you sought. You retrieved the book, and was about to go on your way when you happened upon a library assistant. You mentioned the book being on the wrong shelf to the assistant, and then left the library, probably never thinking about it again.

"Unknown to you, though, the library assistant immediately told the head librarian that you, one of the Royal Court, had discovered the book misplaced. The head librarian, determined that such an error would not be repeated while she was in charge of the library, demanded that all library staff work nearly around the clock for the next two weeks, reshelving and double-checking every single book, scroll, and item in the library. This was accomplished. However, one of the other assistants was thus not able to attend a blind date that one of her friends had arranged for that time period, and therefore never met the man she was to date, as he took the cancellation of the date personally.

"Had the two of them had their date, they would have eventually gotten married, to disastrous results for them both. Never a happy marriage, and with the man eventually being criminally punished for beating his wife, both of their children would grow up in a very poor home, and would become in their turn rather poor parents themselves. So it would generally go with their descendants, until a time two hundred and seventy-six years ago. At that time, one of their descendants would have been a maid who, given her poor home life, would not exactly have been attentive to her new duties as one of those assigned to maintain Sailor Jupiter's personal quarters in the palace. Due to this maid, on the morning of a certain attack upon the Earth by groups from outside our system, Sailor Jupiter's slippers would have not been off to the side of her bed, but right where she jumped out of bed, to trip upon them. Thus she would have been about half a minute later getting to where we all gathered to teleport into the site of the battle, and we would have arrived there just as a blast bolt that had already been fired passed through the space that would now have contained Sailor Mars' head, killing her instantly."

Sailor Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars looked at each other with wide eyes. Sailor Mars gulped audibly.

"However," continued Sailor Pluto, still with the far-away look in her eyes, "because that blind date never happened, the man never married the library assistant. Instead he later joined the military and had a long and honorable career there. The assistant later married a different man, who loved her deeply, and they had many children that they raised in a happy home. One of those children's descendants, instead, was Sailor Jupiter's maid on that day of battle, so the slippers were not in her way, and she arrived promptly to the transport point. With the extra time, upon our arrival Sailor Venus had time to see the bolt heading for Sailor Mars, and Sailor Venus blocked it easily. We went on to win that battle, as you know."

Sailor Pluto's eyes regained focus upon the here and now. Sailor Mercury, puzzled, asked, "But what did either chain of events have to do with anything you did?"

Sailor Pluto replied gravely, "A few minutes before you entered the library, I moved the book you were looking for that day, from the proper shelf to the one beneath it."

"That's what you call 'manipulation'?" Sailor Jupiter could not help but exclaim.

"Sounds more like 'saving our damn lives' to me," muttered Sailor Mars.

"Still," replied Sailor Pluto solemnly, "I had no right, nor permission, to interfere with any of you, even in ways advantageous."

"So, not only did you change events by doing such small things, and not only did the changes benefit us, but they generally benefited other people, too, like the assistant who had a happy marriage instead of a bad one?" asked Sailor Venus.

"Do not misunderstand, Sailor Venus; if putting that assistant into a horrible marriage was the only path that led to Sailor Mars not dying in that battle, I would have steered events down that path instead," stressed Sailor Pluto, still looking up at them all.

"Did you, with your power, ever choose the darker path when a lighter one was there?" asked the King.

Sailor Pluto looked up at the King, and shook her head slowly. "No, my King; I sought always to minimize the amount of damage I was doing to the people around me. It was the least I could do, I thought, to in some way redress the other things I forced to come into being.

"But, my King, there is another misapprehension that you all have, that I can now at long last correct. You asked how I use my power. You referred to my knowledge of the time line, the knowledge of future events, both actual and possible, and the winding paths down through the ages that each may or must lead to.

"My King and my Queen, and Small Lady," Sailor Pluto continued, nodding towards the royal family directly in front of her, "and my fellow senshi," she added, slowly looking at them all, arrayed before her, "access to the time line and seeing the events upon it, is not a Time Senshi's power. It is a Time Senshi's _punishment_."

As shock and puzzlement ran over the faces of the senshi around her, Sailor Pluto turned her head to her left, to look directly at Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. "Do you remember," she said, addressing them alone, "in the midst of the battle against Pharaoh Ninety, when the helicopter we were in exploded, and I stopped the flow of time to permit you to escape?"

Sailor Uranus nodded, "Yes, we remember."

"That is not something easily forgotten," added Sailor Neptune.

"I told you then that it was the greatest taboo for a Time Senshi to do that," continued Sailor Pluto.

"Yes," confirmed Sailor Uranus, "yes, you did. We always wondered what you meant by that."

"Now, at long last, I can tell you, all of you, what I meant by that," said Sailor Pluto, again looking around to everyone in the semi-circle around her. "The very purpose of a Time Senshi is to prevent such abuses of time, which threaten the entire structure of the very universe itself. To stop the flow of time is an act of such arrogance, of such... hubris, that retribution for it is swift and terrible.

"For from that instant, where I stopped the flow of time to permit Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune to survive, for nearly a millennium before and two millennium after, foreknowledge of the time line, and all its variants, was given to me. It seems that if a Time Senshi is ever arrogant enough to believe that she can decide, via stopping the flow of time completely, which events should or should not occur... why, then as punishment she is made to decide _all of them_. All the events. With everything that she holds dear hanging in the balance at nearly every moment."

"Wait," said Sailor Jupiter, "you said 'a millennium _before' _you stopped time, you were being punished. How can you been punished before the act?"

Sailor Pluto slowly shook her head. "Time does not appear the same for me as it does for everyone else. I cannot really explain it to you adequately, but I assure you, that is the effect that it had."

Sailor Mercury's eyes had gone wide, in reaction to Sailor Pluto's words. "So instead of how we've all seen you, all this time, as a director and writer of a play, choosing which scenes the play would follow, and which words the actors would say, with us as the actors and puppets at your command..." Sailor Mercury shook her head, continuing, "Instead, you've been one of the actresses, and puppets, desperately following a script that changes all the time, and if you get a single word wrong or out of place, the entire theater explodes, taking all of us with it."

Sailor Pluto closed her eyes and nodded. She sighed heavily, then again opened her eyes to look up at Sailor Mercury, "I had hoped that you, at least, might understand. Could understand how foreknowledge is such a subtle and terrible punishment."

Sailor Mars shook her head. "I don't see how it's such a bad thing for the rest of us, even if it was a punishment for you, Sailor Pluto. I would not call that a 'crime'."

Sailor Pluto looked up at her, saying, "Yes, Sailor Mars, that may be true, if subtly steering events with a gentle nudge here and there were all that I did. But that is not all that I did."

Sailor Pluto turned to face Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibimoon again. She bowed again to the mother and the daughter, still from that position on her knees, and upon raising her head again, looked directly at the figure of the obviously tired and emotionally exhausted Princess. "Small Lady, the story you have learned today, about the events of that terrible day, was as true as everyone else knew and believed them to be. But there were things they knew not. The things I did on that day.

"If you can, Sailor Chibimoon, will you hear my... confession? Of what else happened upon that most eventful of days?"

The Princess almost refused. She had heard so much this day, learned terrible things. She was afraid of what Sailor Pluto was going to tell her, and she knew it. But looking at her, there upon her knees, the familiar face almost pleading... the idea of her friend doing anything wrong, anything evil, seemed absurd to her. So, although she still was almost clutching her mother's hand while she sat there upon her mother's lap, Sailor Chibimoon said softly, "Yes, Puu. I will listen."

Sailor Pluto bowed her head again to the young Princess. Then she rose up, and began to tell, again, of that day, so long ago...

* * *

The implacable alien machines spewing ice and death slammed again and again on the fragile barrier that the three outer senshi had raised up against them. Sailor Pluto struggled, as she felt her fellow senshi struggle, to maintain the shield under the mountains of force that slammed against it. Unlike her sisters, though, Sailor Pluto knew, oh how horrible that she knew, that the struggle was near its end.

Her back was to the others, but she did not need to lay eyes upon them, to know of the terrible mix of love and power and agony and life that moved among the entwined figures there upon the grass at the top of the little hill. Even as she participated in the struggle to protect them, even as she heard Sailor Saturn's agony echoing around the small bubble of life, she also awaited the cue that she knew was the moment she would act. Would have to act, else the world itself be wiped from existence.

As another tear ran down her face, not from the pain of the struggle but from simple grief, from the knowledge of what she was about to do, the cue she had awaited finally arrived: the faint strangled cry from Mamoru's lips, "Usag-"

With that, as Mamoru spasmed his seed deep within Usagi, and as Usagi's wings reflexively spread wide with her orgasm, Sailor Pluto swirled around with all the elegance and grace at her command, letting the barrier shatter and fall. With a savage thrust of her Time Staff, she rammed it into Sailor Moon's lower back.

As the ice rushed in to claim them all, Sailor Pluto set to work. For her, time slowed, crawling along, an almost living thing with a texture that she could feel, could manipulate. About her, the icy death rushing in, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus desperately spinning; to her these were in such slow motion they could barely be said to happen at all. Still, she ignored even that, for all her concentration and skill were about to be used, there at the junction of her Time Staff and Sailor Moon's naked flesh.

Sailor Pluto formed a bubble of time within Sailor Moon's body, a bubble encapsulating her reproductive organs. The senshi of time drove time forward within that bubble, the events of weeks transpiring in mere milliseconds instead. Thus, did the seed of Endymion join with the egg of Serenity, and conception occurred, there within the living sheath of Sailor Moon.

Sailor Pluto let the process continue, fertilized egg growing and growing, until the undefinable point where there was, at last, what the senshi needed to fulfill her task: a lifeline, anchored subtlety and as yet feebly, to the so very new little life. For it was here, and only here, at the beginning of that life, that a time senshi could do the extreme and unnatural thing that was about to be done.

What the exact process was is truly indescribable, for no words have been created that can encompass the act. But Sailor Pluto, in a way, grabbed the lifeline of the little being, that just started 'being' at all, and she stretched that lifeline, extruding it through time. It was not even, a bit thicker here, a bit thinner there, but the life was extended vastly through time, longer and longer, and longer still.

The little bundle of life within Sailor Moon would live long, very long indeed. If it could survive the ice rushing in to claim it, and them all.

So Sailor Pluto turned to her second task, and she turned the bubble of time within Sailor Moon in, essentially, reverse, so that time within it now crawled to almost nothing. Not completely stopped - no, that was a lesson Sailor Pluto need learn but once, she would not completely stop time ever again. But slowing the flow of time was permitted, and this she did, within the bubble of time that now centered around Sailor Moon's womb. Thus slowed, the ice would never quite reach all the way to the little bundle of life within the Queen, and thus it would survive, the outside centuries seeming like less than seconds.

Next, even as outside her awareness the sword of Uranus and the mirror of Neptune met the wings of the Moon, Sailor Pluto warped the area around the little bubble of time she'd created within Serenity, just enough so that while centuries would pass around them, the whole jumbled mass of flesh, human and feline, would experience just days. Thus the pulses of power from the Silver Crystal clutched in Sailor Moon's hand, and the life-preserving pulses of healing energy from the tortured figure of Sailor Saturn, would seem to the rest of the planet to come slowly and rarely. But to those within, each pulse seemed to come at the pace of a heartbeat, keeping them alive.

Then, at the last, Sailor Pluto released her mental hold upon her staff, and upon the twistings of time about them that she had created, which would continue without her now. She let the ice, slowly to her, take her then, take them all, down down into the dark. And as she froze, the ice claimed as well the tears that, here at the end, could now freely and heavily flow down the face of the senshi of time.

* * *

"After the ice, the time dilation field within you slowly dissipated," Sailor Pluto explained, addressing Sailor Moon, "but it was enough to make it seem like Small Lady's conception happened afterward, while we were struggling to rebuild the world. That was the lie I let you all believe." Sailor Pluto again bowed her head, her gaze remaining on the grass in which she knelt.

Everyone standing on their feet around the kneeling figure of Sailor Pluto was stunned into speechlessness by her revelation of her actions upon that day, so long ago. One of those seated eventually broke the silence.

"Puu?" asked Sailor Chibimoon softly, from her mother's lap and arms.

"Yes, Small Lady?" replied the kneeling figure.

"You're why I grow so very slowly?"

"Yes. The manipulation I did to your life line and life force, at the time and place of your conception, is the reason for your rate of growth. For what it is worth, which I know is very little, it was necessary."

"Why, Puu?"

Sailor Pluto raised her head to gaze at the Princess, held in the Queen's arms. "Because your travels to the past had to occur both at the time they did here, and at the time they did in the past. Without slowing your rate of growth, you would have been an adult by then. Going back as an adult, the teenaged Sailor Moon would never have trusted you, at least not enough to permit you to move into her own home. Your mission would have failed, and all the Earth would have been destroyed.

"This was the only path through time that let humanity, and the planet, survive."

Sailor Neptune asked quietly, "Was what happened to Hotaru also the only path?"

"Yes," said Sailor Pluto, turning her head toward Sailor Neptune. "Do you recall those last few weeks, there in the house we all four shared, before the coming of the ice? How I increasingly spent long hours off by myself?" As Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus nodded, she continued, "I was desperately searching through any and all possible time lines, trying to find one where the Earth survived without Hotaru having to do what she did. I couldn't find one. Not a one." Sailor Pluto again looked down at the ground in front of her, and whispered, "I couldn't stop it."

The silence this time lasted much longer. Eventually it was broken by the King, who asked, "Even so, Sailor Pluto, why do you call these things crimes, if it was necessary?"

"It was necessary, yes... but was it right?" Sailor Pluto said, looking up to face the King. "Power corrupts, as well you know, Your Majesty. You and the Queen have surrounded yourselves with the rest of the senshi, particularly Sailor Mars, who is always more than willing to criticize your decisions. This helps counterbalance the natural human tendency to use power for personal ends, and it is a measure of the wisdom of you both," nodding to the monarchs, "that you have sought out that balance.

"But I have had tremendous power over you all, even though it came as a punishment to myself, and there has been no form of counterbalance to prevent me from using that power unjustly. I can cry 'necessity', yes, but I might be lying, even to myself. I might have been wrong, even without realizing it. So now, at long last, I can offer myself up to your judgment." Sailor Pluto lowered her head again.

"How long is this power, this punishment, that you incurred in saving us, going to last?" asked Sailor Uranus.

Sailor Pluto again lifted her head, to gaze up at Sailor Uranus. "Sailor Uranus, in the long period that I protect the timeline that we've fought for, there are two and only two times when I can answer a question of yours freely. This is the second and the last, and the answer is this: about one more minute."

"Wha..?" uttered Sailor Uranus, her face a mixture of surprise, shock, and disbelief.

Sailor Pluto smiled up at the nonplussed senshi. "Haruka, you have no idea how long I've waited to see the look on your face when I say that."

But then Sailor Pluto's face grew serious again, as she turned to face all those around her. "This is the day of my release from the punishment I incurred for my transgression, all those long years ago. But while I may, finally, have paid whatever debt I owed to the universe, and to time, for my actions, that erases none of the debt I owe to all of you for what I have done, and for what I have long hidden from you. Given the results..." She paused, looking at the Princess before her, still held in her mother's arms, then looking a bit further up the small hill, at the frozen, tortured figure of the one she regarded as her own daughter.

"Given the results," she continued, "although I know it was necessary, I do not know if my actions were right, or just. So with this last sentence that I can foresee myself saying, through the fading sight of future events, I submit myself to your judgment."

Sailor Pluto swayed then, almost collapsing entirely to the ground, just managing to catch herself with one hand. A vast shudder went through her, her muscles twitching for several moments. At last they ceased, and with a heavy sigh, Sailor Pluto slowly pulled herself back up, sitting upright though still upon her knees before them all. The others were almost shocked to see upon the face of the senshi of time that which none could remember ever seeing there before - a look of sereneness.

King Endymion coughed. "So, you have reached the end of your ability to see into the future, and alternate timelines?" he asked.

"Yes," said Sailor Pluto, "I now know no more of the future than do any of you, although I might retain the ability to have prophetic dreams. I am not certain."

"Well," said Sailor Uranus, "before anyone is judged for anything, there's probably something else that everyone should know, as well. Something else that was kept hidden."

"Sailor Pluto," said Sailor Neptune, "we knew you'd dropped the barrier on that day."

"You did?" said Sailor Pluto, obviously incredulous. "But... but how... how could you have known that?"

Sailor Neptune casually gestured with one hand, and her talisman manifested itself in her grip. She wiggled it back and forth before the stunned Sailor Pluto. "I saw you in my mirror," Sailor Neptune explained.

"You were absolutely certain that the barrier was going to fall," explained Sailor Uranus, "and we thought that was a bit too certain even for you. The only way to be _certain _it would fall is if you meant to bring it down yourself."

"So," continued Sailor Neptune, "even while fighting, I used my mirror to keep an eye on you. When I saw you turn away, and let the barrier fall, it gave me time to turn and contact Sailor Moon, as you'd warned us to do."

"And I felt her turning," added Sailor Uranus, "so I did the same."

Sailor Pluto seemed to realize that her mouth was hanging open in shock, and she closed it with an audible click. She swallowed, then managed to say, "I'm surprised you didn't kill me immediately after the ice, for my betrayal of you all."

Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune glanced at each other. "We thought about it," admitted Sailor Uranus. "But after talking it over, we realized that you had to have known what was going to happen to Hotaru."

"And if we knew anything," continued Sailor Neptune, "we knew you'd never have let that happen to her if there were any other possible way, at all."

"Plus we'd killed you rather often already. So," concluded Sailor Uranus, "we decided to trust you."

"We believed you'd tell us what had happened, eventually," added Sailor Neptune.

Sailor Uranus looked thoughtful. "Took longer than we thought," she said.

"Why didn't you tell any of the _rest_ of us?" Sailor Mars almost screamed at the pair, her face so red with anger and disbelief that the bruises on her face seemed to have faded from her flushed complexion.

The two outer senshi yet again shared a glance. "You didn't ask," replied Sailor Uranus.

Both the King and Sailor Mars put their hands up to their foreheads, as if suffering from a giant headache. Sailor Chibimoon felt a small shudder go through her mother, and realized that it was a wave of suppressed laughter.

"Is there anything else you haven't told us?" asked Sailor Jupiter of the two standing outer senshi.

"We're _asking_," added Sailor Mars, rather pointedly.

Again, the pair shared a wordless glance. "No," said Sailor Neptune.

"That pretty much covers it," added Sailor Uranus.

"Well then," interrupted the Queen, "let's get this wrapped up." She briefly hugged her daughter, then eased the Princess out of her lap and back up onto her feet. The Princess seemed stronger after the brief rest, and stood without help, looking at the figure of Sailor Pluto before them, who had resumed her waiting with bowed head.

"Small Lady," said the Queen, not rising from her sitting position, "as you have been the most affected, by far, by Sailor Pluto's admitted actions, you will render judgment upon her."

Sailor Pluto's head snapped up, even as everyone else turned towards Sailor Moon, all eyes wide with shock. As the Princess stared unbelieving at her mother, Sailor Mars began to protest, and even the King started, "Dear..." The fierce gaze of neo-Queen Serenity, as she swiveled to glare at them in turn, silenced them both.

"Mama," said the Princess, the disbelief still evident on her face, "do I have to do this? I'm having a really bad day."

"I know, dear, but a queen must make life and death decisions even on the worst of days. It's time you began to learn that, because you will be queen someday," explained the Queen.

Sailor Chibimoon turned from her mother then, and regarded Sailor Pluto, who still kneeled before them. With a heavy sigh, the Princess stepped towards the time senshi, and regarded her with an almost blank expression.

"Sailor Pluto, you've run around making us all do things behind our back? You made me stay a little girl for so long, even reaching inside of Sailor Moon to do it? And you let that," she motioned with her head towards the top of the hill, "happen to Sailor Saturn?"

"Yes," whispered Sailor Pluto sadly, nodding her head.

"Then I find you guilty," said the girl bluntly. Many of the surrounding senshi blinked in surprise. Sailor Uranus extended her hand, and her sword appeared within it. She went down on one knee, reversing the shining sword as she did so, offering the hilt for the Princess' use. Sailor Neptune joined her partner down on one knee, and the rest of the senshi did likewise, leaving the King standing and the Queen still sitting.

The Princess looked over at the sword being offered to her, then looked back at Sailor Pluto. "Bow your head," she ordered the time senshi. Trembling, Sailor Pluto did so, holding her head out almost level to the ground. She felt the Princess take hold of the top of her head, moving it to a slightly lower position, hearing her mutter, "Just about there...

"Stay there, please," the Princess added, more loudly.

Sailor Pluto stayed in position, looking straight down, seeing only the green green grass beneath her. She heard the Princess walk a few steps over in the direction of where Sailor Uranus knelt, and heard the girl ask, "May I borrow your talisman, please?" Sailor Pluto could hear no reply, and she did not turn her head to look, but she did reach up with one hand and pull her long hair up and to the side, exposing her slender neck to the judgment of the Princess she had so gravely wronged.

Sailor Pluto saw the feet of the Princess return, standing next to her in the pink and white boots. "You admit your guilt?" the Princess asked, one last time, of the figure bowed and waiting before her.

"Yes," said Sailor Pluto, voice filled with regret and acceptance of her fate. She swallowed, and could not keep a small shudder from going through her body, though she knew she deserved what she was about to receive.

"Then," shouted Sailor Chibimoon, "in the name of the moon, I will punish you!" And so saying, she raised her hand high, spread her wings wide, and then swinging down as hard as she could, with the back of the mirror talisman she bonked Sailor Pluto on the top of the head.

"There," said the Princess, in a satisfied tone, as Sailor Pluto's hands reflexively went to the top of her skull. Lifting her now painful head, while still clutching it, Sailor Pluto watched as the Princess walked over and returned the talisman to Sailor Neptune, who accepted it back with a nod. Sailor Pluto could not help but notice the face of Sailor Uranus, who was desperately trying not to laugh even as she sent her own talisman back to its storage.

"But... but..." stammered Sailor Pluto, dropping her hands from her head as the Princess returned to stand in front of her, "that's... that's it?"

"Yes," said the Princess simply.

"But... but... I used you all! I let that happen to Hotaru! I made..." she had to gulp, the words suddenly not coming to her, "I did so many things."

"And if you didn't, the whole world would be destroyed or iced over or whatever, a dozen different ways. Right?"

"Yes, but..."

"Sailor Pluto," the Princess said, stepping closer to the green-haired senshi and placing both her hands on the woman's shoulders, to look closely into her face, "that's a really really _really _good reason."

"Small Lady," she almost whispered, "I made you stay a little girl for so very long. I'm sorry."

"I forgive you, Puu," the Princess answered, and having to stand up a bit on her toes, even with the tall woman kneeling before her, the Princess kissed the senshi on the forehead.

Sailor Pluto could only stare, another tear springing to her eye unbeknownst to her. The Princess came back down on her feet, and looked sternly at her older friend. "But don't do it again!" she ordered. Then, after a pause, she added thoughtfully, "Unless you have to. But ask first!"

"Yes, Your Highness," Sailor Pluto said, nodding.

The Princess stepped back then, still looking at the kneeling senshi of time. "Now can we wake Hotaru up?" she asked. "I want my friend back."

Sailor Pluto, still dumbfounded, could only nod again in response.

Sailor Chibimoon smiled, and turned, walking back to her mother. The Queen hugged the Princess, her arms carefully wrapped underneath her daughter's wings, and whispered in her ear, "I am so very very proud of you." The King wore an expression of fatherly pride, while the faces of the rest of the senshi were breaking out in wide grins.

The Princess pulled back from her mother, asking, "Can we please wake Hotaru up now?"

"Let's find out," the Queen replied. The King helped the Queen stand, and the three of them started up the hill, with the rest of the senshi following behind; excepting Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, who walked over to where Sailor Pluto was still on her knees, in utter stupefaction.

"Come on, Setsuna, time to try again," said Haruka, gently grabbing her fellow senshi by an arm, as Michiru grabbed the other. Together, they pulled the unresisting woman back up to her feet.

Setsuna could only stare at the two in confusion, looking from face to face. "She forgave me," she blurted out, unbelievingly.

"Just like her mother," nodded Sailor Uranus.

"That's what moon princesses do, you know," added Sailor Neptune. She added, more quietly, "Oh, we forgive you, too."

Sailor Pluto's eyes went even wider at that, and she turned from Sailor Neptune to Sailor Uranus, who nodded in agreement.

"Now," said Haruka, as she and Michiru guided Setsuna up the hill, "let's wake our daughter up."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

As the last three senshi came up the hill to join the others, they could hear the Queen saying to her daughter, "Are you sure? We can wait to try until tomorrow, if you want to."

Sailor Chibimoon shook her head, replying, "I wouldn't be able to rest anyway, if we went back up without trying."

The Queen smiled, saying only, "All right then, dear."

The Princess turned then, to again look upon the tortured features of her friend. She tried to use the image of Hotaru's face to stiffen her resolve, but found herself turning away, the sight still too terrible for her to see for long. Instead, she took a deep breath, and asked the group of senshi, "What, exactly, do we have to do?"

Sailor Mercury stepped forward, replying, "In a way, it's up to you, Small Lady. We have records of all the attempts that we've made before, with all the different methods and variations and procedures. But we've been talking this over during the past few days, and at least for this first time, trying with you, we'd like if you decide how we do it this time, without your knowing too much about the past. You might think of something we haven't thought of, and starting fresh might help.

"Luna and Artemis keep the records of our attempts for us," she added, as the two mooncats stepped forward, "as well as watching while we try, to see what happens here in the physical world while we are struggling in the mental world."

"Mental world?" asked the Princess. "I don't understand."

"Since the first times of trying to reawaken Sailor Saturn," Luna began to explain, "the Sailor Senshi have always found themselves in a mental landscape whenever they gather to try again to use their powers to see if they can release her."

"Similar to the mirror worlds, or dream worlds, that we've fought in before," explained Sailor Mercury. "But here, there seems to be a difference.

"If we all try to go into Hotaru's mind, or simply pour power into her body, all of us moving independently, it all seems to be jumbled up and we don't accomplish anything at all. But if we all go in as a group behind one person, then we can enter what seems to be a mental landscape of some sort.

"We're not entirely sure that it's a place linked to or with Hotaru at all. But depending on which of us leads the group 'in', so to speak, the landscape is different. It's like the person in front is setting the stage in which we strive," finished Sailor Mercury.

"That's why we thought, with you here, we should let you lead us," added the Queen.

The Princess pondered that for a bit, then asked, "If everyone's all together, how does one person 'lead'?"

"The person who we're channeling power to, and who is using it to... try to contact Hotaru, or affect her in some way, is the 'leader', so to speak," clarified Sailor Mercury. "But I don't want to tell you too much more, all right?"

"Well, all right..." said the Princess, hesitating. "But... has anything seemed to work more than anything else? Wouldn't that be a place to start?"

Sailor Mercury paused in turn, and looked around to everyone else in the group, silently asking them if she should answer the Princess' question. A few shrugs, mostly nods including from the mooncats, were the equally silent reply.

"Generally, Small Lady, what seems to might be making a little bit of progress, possibly, is when all of us were in about the same position relative to Hotaru as we were that day," was Sailor Mercury's response.

The puzzled look on the Princess' face was all the question needed. Sailor Mercury further explained, "I mean physically. With your father underneath, your mother behind her, and the rest of us also behind, essentially grasping your mother the way we did back on that day. Although since we don't need a shield, the outer senshi also have joined us in a power amplification circuit previously, on those times when something seemed that it might possibly be happening."

The Princess began to blush furiously. She looked up bashfully at the puzzled faces of her parents and the rest of the senshi, and asked quietly, "Um... if you're amplifying power... does that mean everyone is going to be having sex again?"

The Queen moved to her daughter's side, sparing a look at the others that, even though just a glance, informed them all that laughing at the question would be a very bad idea. To their credit, no one even cracked a smile as the Queen knelt down next to her red-faced daughter.

"No, dear," she explained to the Princess, "we found out later that, actually, sex wasn't needed for doing power amplification. It was the mental connections and the skin contact that was required."

"Oh," said the Princess, clearly relieved.

"But, Small Lady," added Sailor Mercury, "we do usually do this in the nude, to maximize the amount of contact with each other physically, in conjunction with joining our sigils to contact mentally."

Sailor Venus added as well, "We're pretty used to it by now. It's like we're all together at a hot springs, or sharing a bath."

The Princess nodded her understanding and was about to say something more, when Diana stepped up from behind her parents and said, "Small Lady, can I have a word with you, while everyone else is getting ready?"

"I don't really think..." the Princess began.

"As your Royal Advisor, I must insist, Your Highness," interrupted Diana, with a very strange and intense look on her face. The Princess was a bit shocked, as Diana hadn't addressed her as 'Your Highness' outside a formal function that she could ever remember.

"When a Royal Advisor insists, it's usually best to listen," said the Queen quite seriously. "Why don't you two go talk a bit, while the rest of us prepare?"

"Well, all right," said the Princess dubiously. She bent down and scooped up Diana, and walked a little ways back down the hill. She could still hear the quiet sounds of the others talking as they prepared, but could not make out the words, so she stopped as this seemed far enough for her and her advisor to speak somewhat privately.

Sitting down, careful to keep her wingtips from brushing the ground as she did so, the Princess held the little mooncat in her lap. Finally she asked, "Okay, Diana, what did you want to say?"

Diana took a deep breath, then said in one long burst, "I know you're going to try to wake up Sailor Saturn, and I can't stop you from doing that. But please, from your advisor, please don't try it today. Everything we've learned today, everything you've been through... you're already exhausted. Mentally, even more than physically. The Bacchanalia is scheduled for the whole week. You don't have to do this today. Please wait."

Sailor Chibimoon sighed. "You may be right, Diana. I'm tired. But I can't not do this today. How... how could I walk up those steps, and leave her down here? How could I sleep up in my bed, knowing she's down here, and I didn't even try?"

"You've been sleeping in your bed for centuries while she's been down here," argued Diana.

"But I didn't know that," the Princess replied, shaking her head. "It's different, and you know it."

Diana shook her head in turn, then looked back up at her royal charge. "I don't want to lose you, Small Lady," the mooncat whispered, letting her fear show.

"You're not going to lose me, Diana," the Princess whispered in return. "I'm even afraid mama and the rest will be so careful that I can't come to any harm, that I won't be able to wake her up because of them."

"Well... even if you do wake her up... will you...," Diana's voice faded away, as she couldn't bear to ask the question she wanted to ask.

The Princess picked Diana up from her lap, and raised her up, for both to look each other eye to eye. "Will I still need you around to be my friend?" she completed the question Diana couldn't ask. Diana could only nod very slightly, afraid of the answer.

The Princess pulled the mooncat's face to her own, to rub noses together. "Silly kitty," the Princess said, the seriousness of her tone belying the playful words. "I'll probably always need you, and if I don't I'll still _want _you to be my friend. Getting my other friend back won't change that." Diana sighed, her biggest fear at least mollified.

"Excuse me, Sailor Chibimoon," came the voice of Sailor Venus, from behind them. "We're ready now, I think."

"Okay, Sailor Venus," the Princess said in reply, while standing up and putting Diana up on her shoulder. She turned around then, saying, "Let's..."

Her words petered out, on seeing that Sailor Venus, save for the bright red ribbon in her long blonde hair and Artemis sitting on her shoulder, was completely nude.

After a pause, while Sailor Chibimoon's face turned an amazing shade of pink, Artemis jumped down from the bare shoulder into the grass. "Diana," he called up to his daughter, "let's go on ahead and I'll show you how we observe each attempt, and record things afterwards."

Diana obediently jumped down off of the Princess' shoulder, and joined her father in making their way back up the grass hill towards the group at the top. "Father," Diana asked, after they were out of their humans' hearing range, "do you ever get used to them going around naked like that?"

"After the first couple of centuries...," Artemis shrugged as they walked. "No. Not really."

As the mooncats left, Sailor Venus stood still for a bit, to give the Princess a moment or two to recover. Then she stepped forward and offered the younger girl her hand, saying gently, "Come on."

The Princess took the offered hand, more by reflex than by choice. The skin of her hand, through the rips and tears of the glove she still wore, touched the skin of Minako's hand, the very real physical contact seeming to drive home to the Princess even more the overwhelming fact of Sailor Venus' nudity.

As Sailor Venus turned, gently guiding Sailor Chibimoon to walking back up the hill with her, the two kept hold of each other's hand. The Princess found walking beside her fellow senshi a bit easier than looking straight at her, but her mind was still jumbled. She found her thoughts jumping, flitting from thought to thought... from the realization that the idea of them all being naked to transfer power was quite different from actually seeing each other like that... to how very beautiful the senshi of love actually was... to remembering Minako's earlier unthinking reference to being with everyone, and her declaration that she wouldn't kick the Princess out of her bed... to remembering when she peeped inadvertently on Lady Ami and Lady Makoto, naked in _their _bed... to imaging herself tied to the headboard as Lady Ami had been, with Lady Minako about to gleefully ravish _her_...

The Princess shook her head, desperate to break that train of thought, chagrined at where her own mind had wandered to. She felt her face blushing even more, which she hadn't thought was even possible at this point. Wanting to say something, anything, to break the suddenly cloying silence between them, the Princess croaked out, "This isn't... isn't really like a hot springs, is it?"

Sailor Venus squeezed the Princess' hand softly, saying quietly, "No, not really. I hoped you would be able to think of it like that, but..." She shrugged.

"Is everyone else...?" the Princess asked, letting the question hang there, uncertain of what she really was trying to ask.

"Everyone's in position. Oh," Sailor Venus switched to a whisper, bending down to bring her mouth closer to the Princess' ear, "your father switched to swimming trunks, since he isn't part of the senshi circuit. Your parents figured the whole thing is embarrassing enough for you as it is."

Sailor Chibimoon glanced over at Sailor Venus' face, now so close to her own, and let out a small sigh of relief. Venus smiled wryly, then added, "It took us quite a while to get used to all this, ourselves. I'd say that you'll get used to it too, but... frankly, I hope you don't have to." She squeezed the Princess' hand again, and the Princess managed to squeeze back.

Then the Princess actually could leave her previous thoughts behind, for the two had arrived back at the top of the hill. Sailor Chibimoon took in the scene before her, as Sailor Venus waited patiently at her side. The three mooncats had taken up positions all around the pile of humans, with Diana sitting in front of them and Artemis and Luna to each side. She saw her father lying on his back in the dirt, underneath the stony figure of Hotaru, with Hotaru seeming to sit on his bare stomach and with her hands on his lower chest. She could see now exactly how Hotaru had poured all her energy into her father's body, and hence the planet, all those centuries ago.

Her mother sat atop her father, their hips joined, only the black trunks he wore making the joining an innocent one. Sailor Moon was directly behind the figure of Sailor Saturn, her thighs against the stony thighs, her stomach against the icy back. She spread her wings wide, stretching in preparation for the efforts soon to come, and the Silver Crystal shone from its place between her bare breasts.

The Princess looked farther down along the line of senshi, seeing Sailor Mercury lying on her side, facing away from the Princess, with Sailor Jupiter lying facing her lover, the two nude figures already entwining their arms, as Sailor Mercury reached up and grasped the calf of Sailor Moon. Sailor Jupiter's legs stuck out beyond where those of her shorter lover extended, and the Princess could see Sailor Pluto, lying on her back below where Sailor Jupiter was, reach up and grasp Sailor Jupiter's bare leg with her own bare arm.

Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus lay on either side of Sailor Pluto, on their own sides, forming almost a pyramid shape of nude flesh. The pair on their sides slid their arms under Sailor Pluto's shoulders, grasping the time senshi even as they both reached out to each other and pulled themselves close. Then as the Princess watched, they each entwined a leg around one of Sailor Pluto's. The result was that Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus were almost lying physically atop Sailor Pluto, with all three of their foreheads very near each other.

The Princess had to ask, "Sailor Venus... can three of us join our sigils, like they seem to be doing?"

Sailor Venus nodded, adding, "Yes, but it requires a lot of concentration to get the connection started, and the more skin contact the better. So... we basically have to 'pile on' to each other, like that."

The Princess nodded her understanding, and let her gaze move on, to the figure of Sailor Mars lying on the other side of her mother and father, facing away from her. As the Princess watched, Sailor Pluto raised her other arm, grasping the long leg of Sailor Mars. Without realizing it, the gaze of the Princess lingered on the form of Sailor Mars, graceful even when simply lying on her side on the ground. The senshi of flame's nudity was easier for the Princess to confront, looking at her from behind, and she found herself thinking that Rei was, like Minako, like them all, so very beautiful, even though so very different.

Still looking at Sailor Mars, patiently lying on her side, a small sliver of understanding seemed to grow within Sailor Chibimoon. Suddenly, she glanced at her mother, to discover that Sailor Moon had been watching her gaze upon the woman her mother loved almost as much as her mother loved her father. The Queen smiled, just a little, with just a touch of wistfulness. Her words from before echoed in the Princess' mind, "I love them both."

The Princess was turned from those thoughts by Sailor Venus asking her, "Okay, where do you want to be?"

Turning from her mother's gentle gaze, the Princess took a deep breath, and slowly let it out, mentally trying to push aside any thought besides what everyone was about to try to do. Looking up at Sailor Venus, and secretly grateful that her long blonde hair had fallen forward to mostly hide her breasts from immediate view, the Princess replied, "I thought I would try to link my sigil with Hotaru's sigil."

Both Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon nodded, the choice an obvious place to try first. "Well then, dear," the Queen said, "that'll probably mean you have to sit on your father's chest."

Looking at how her father and the stony figure of her friend were positioned, the Princess realized that her mother was correct. To bring her forehead, and her sigil, to press against Hotaru's, she would need to be sitting on her father's upper chest. Another thought made Sailor Chibimoon's eyes go wide again, and she asked in a weak voice, "Um... do I need to be naked, too?"

Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon shared a glance. "That's up to you, Small Lady," said Sailor Venus, "but connections between us all like this work easier the more direct body contact we have with each other."

The Princess quailed inside at the thought of having to sit naked on top of her own father. But then, she looked again at the stony face of her friend, so long entombed, so long frozen with that agony evident on her face, and beside what Hotaru had done for her, some embarrassment seemed like such a little thing.

The Princess visibly braced herself, saying, "All right then, I will too, in case it helps."

Again Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus shared a glance. Sailor Venus was about to speak, when a muffled, "Use this," came from the far side of the group, as Artemis with his mouth dragged the cloak of Tuxedo Kamen from where the King had placed it, back over towards them.

"Good idea, Artemis; thank you," said the King, taking the cloak from the mooncat's mouth when he'd pulled it close enough. The King quickly folded the cloak into a pad of cloth, putting it across his own chest above where the icy cold hands lay upon him.

"Okay, papa, but don't you peek before I... get situated," demanded the Princess.

"But..." uttered the King, and then coughed. He had been about to quite logically remind his daughter that he'd changed her diapers for years, and had bathed with her for centuries, and that she didn't have anything he hadn't seen before. However, the cough which interrupted him was due to his wife's sudden warning squeeze of him with her thighs around him, as well as several senshi hands that had moved from his wife's calves to his legs to deliver pinches that, he thought, had been far more vicious than they really needed to be.

"But of course, dear," the King finally said, closing his eyes.

Sailor Venus said to the Princess, "Can I help you undress?"

The Princess looked at Sailor Venus with puzzlement, then she glanced over to where the others had piled their senshi uniforms, and the King his tuxedo. With a sudden, small smile on her face, as she realized what she was about to do to them all, Sailor Chibimoon closed her eyes and concentrated.

With a slight ruffle, and the briefest sight of ribbons blowing around her, Sailor Chibimoon's senshi uniform disappeared. Stretching her wings, the Princess was nude before them, with the exception only of the choker around her neck, her face blushing wildly but still with a small smile.

Sailor Venus felt her jaw drop open. "You know how to do it too?!" she exclaimed.

Even while being embarrassed at being nude before them all, the Princess could not help but smile wider at the astonished senshi. "Hotaru told me how, when I was back in the twentieth century. I was late to meet her once, because I had to change, and she mentioned the trick. I haven't used it much, though. Haven't you all figured it out after all this time?"

"No! We haven't, and I've certainly tried!" Sailor Venus looked personally insulted, and glanced back at the other senshi lying on their sides, who were trying and failing to not laugh hysterically at her.

Turning back to the still blushing Princess, Sailor Venus blurted out, "Why didn't you mention it?" She regretted the words even as they left her mouth.

Even the Princess could see an opening like that, and she all too innocently replied, "You didn't ask."

Sailor Mars groaned, loudly adding, "Oh great; now _she's_ doing it too."

"It's not hard, you just..." the Princess began to explain, only to be stopped by Sailor Venus gently placing a finger on the Princess' lips.

"Hotaru said she'll tell me later," Minako explained. "I'll wait to hear it from her."

The Princess smiled up at Sailor Venus, and nodded.

Offering her hand again, which was taken, Sailor Venus led the now equally nude Princess over to where the King was lying. He was patiently, and prudently, still keeping his eyes shut, having crossed his arms up underneath his head. Sailor Venus helped the Princess squat rather indelicately down unto the folded cape draped across the chest of the King.

The Princess felt the edges of the stony figure's cold hands press against the inside of her thighs, and she shivered. She pushed herself forward, though, sliding herself forward to where she was face to face with Hotaru.

Sailor Venus reached down to take the ends of the cloak that trailed off to each side of the King's body, and flipped them up over the Princess' legs, bringing the back of the cloak up to cover her lower buttocks and provide the girl with a bit more modesty. Briefly touching Endymion's shoulder, she said, "You can open your eyes now."

The King did so, and saw directly in front of him the back of his nude daughter, her wings spreading out from just beneath her shoulder blades. Though long used to seeing his wife's wings in somewhat similar points of view, he could not help but think how very angelic they made his little girl appear.

The Princess had more earthy concerns on her mind, and she wiggled a bit in place, trying to find her balance. "It's a good thing you're so tall, papa," she muttered back to her father.

"Glad to be of some use, dear," he replied, grinning even if she couldn't see his face at the moment. Sailor Venus smiled as well, turning to go take up her own usual position in Sailor Mars' embrace.

As Sailor Venus lay down next to Sailor Mars, the Princess moved her head to the side, peering around Hotaru's stone visage to look at her mother. The Princess was a bit startled at how close her and her mother's heads really were.

"Are you ready?" the Queen asked her daughter, as she felt Sailor Venus' arm grasp her lower leg, completing the figuration that they were all so painfully used to.

The Princess nodded, fervently hoping that she really was.

"All right then," continued the Queen, "I'll be holding the Silver Crystal down here," and she moved her left hand with the crystal inside it to where she had held it on that day so long ago, and innumerable times since, a bit below Hotaru's chest, as she leaned her body against the stone figure and wrapped her arms around it. "I'll send the power from the Crystal back through the others, then they'll give it back to me, and I'll offer it to you," and the Queen reached towards her daughter with her right hand, and took her hand in her own.

The Princess, mindful of the part that bodily contact appeared to play in the process, draped her other arm behind Hotaru's head, and began to bring her face towards her friend's. She stopped, though, the pain-filled visage of her friend tearing at her heart again, and without thinking about it the Princess found herself kissing Hotaru's cold lips. Then with a deep breath, the Princess moved her forehead to press against Hotaru's forehead, and she let the moon sigil flare to brightness between them. She squeezed her mother's hand to indicate she was ready.

On feeling her daughter's hand squeeze her own, Sailor Moon lowered her head, resting her cheek against Hotaru's cold back. She closed her eyes, and drew upon the power of the Silver Crystal, sending it down the left side of her body to Sailor Mercury. Through centuries of repetition, she did not need to visualize it as anything other than what it was, a pure silver line of raw power coursing through her towards her teammate and friend.

Sailor Mercury was ready, having joined sigils with her lover Sailor Jupiter. The two were long since used to sharing these joinings at a very low level of their minds, as neither had anything remaining in the way of secrets that either wanted or needed to keep from the other. Hence the deep mind sharing let the two instantly warp and weave the twisting coil of power between them. As the centuries of testing and experimentation had proven, it was with both their minds and their star seeds that the senshi could amplify the power from one to the other, and Mercury and Jupiter joined so deeply that the power that Sailor Jupiter sent on to Sailor Pluto was already vast.

Sailor Pluto, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Uranus had never all three joined at nearly so deep a level as Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter were. From experience, all of them knew that a three-way joining was far more difficult to maintain than a two-way one. Moreover, anyone in the past who joined with Sailor Pluto soon learned that only a high-level joining was possible, as the visions of the timeline within her mind were kept sealed away, lest they be revealed too soon to a teammate.

Thus Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus were quite surprised, when joining with Sailor Pluto, to find that Setsuna was almost completely open to them both, keeping only the lowest possible level of one's mind to herself. "I can join more fully with you now," came the thought from Pluto to both of the others, "as with the end of the punishment of my vision of the timeline, there's no longer a chance of burning out your minds with a glimpse of it."

The two outer senshi glanced at each other, even here in this mental space, and then joined deeply with Sailor Pluto's mind. What came to them both was just a fading memory of what was once a vision of the timeline that had been in Sailor Pluto's mind, but that was enough to send them reeling from the vast complexity of it. Seeing even the echoes of the memory of what Sailor Pluto had had to endure, Haruka and Michiru joined with each other, then joined as well with Setsuna. They held her to them both, to comfort her and embrace her, and wind amongst them the power that began to flow through them all.

Sailor Mars was surprised at the level of power that flowed into her from Sailor Pluto, but it was nothing that she and Sailor Venus could not handle. They had settled on their usual lower level mind joining, both senshi very used to sharing themselves in this manner. The two wove the power between them, increasing it over and over, then sending it along its way back to Sailor Moon.

The torrent of power that was being given back to Sailor Moon was vast, but their Queen handled it deftly, letting the rush flow through her body to the point where she grasped her daughter's hand. There, rather than just letting it gush forth like she would have for any of the experienced senshi, she simply made it available and known to Sailor Chibimoon, as a pool from which the Princess could draw as she saw fit.

The Princess in her turn, found herself more aware of her body than she ever had been previously. Her nude form seemed to notice every faint wisp of air moving around it, every feather on her wings tasting each waft. Her body rose and fell minutely with each breath her father took beneath her. The icy cold where her skin, on arms and thighs and forehead, met the inert form of her dearest friend. And now came the vast amount of power, akin to that she'd felt before from the Silver Crystal, but transformed and augmented by the living star seeds of all the senshi, and hovering at her hand.

Sailor Chibimoon paused for an instant, the repeated questions from her mother asking if she wanted to wait, and the pleas of her feline companion echoing within her. Then she pushed them aside, and in the same mental leap she grasped the power offered to her from her mother and tried to jump her thoughts into that of the form of Sailor Saturn before her.

Down she went, a shining silver thing of power falling into the dark, dragging her fellow senshi tumbling after her.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sailor Chibimoon found herself in a flat field of grass, with the other senshi around her. All wore their senshi uniforms, including her, which let her instantly realize that this was the mental landscape that Luna had referred to. Looking around, she saw that although the grass seemed to spread out endlessly before them, close behind was a thickly wooded area, filled with trees and brambles. The grass and the leaves on the trees moved gently in a breeze that was not there.

There was no distinct source of light, yet everything was as bright as noon on a cloudless day. Even as she asked, "Is this the way it usually is?" the Princess spotted just a little ways in front of them a deep gash in the grassy ground.

"This is the way it is for you, and that's all that matters," replied Sailor Mercury, not telling the Princess that this scenery was similar to landscapes they'd seen in their prior attempts, yet different in notable ways.

As the Princess turned to hear the reply to her question, she further noticed that while her mother wore her uniform as Sailor Moon, her wings were not manifested here. She quickly examined herself, and realized her own wings were not here either.

"I guess you chose to see us here without our wings," Sailor Moon said easily. "Don't worry, we still have them back in reality."

Nodding her understanding, and a bit relieved, the Princess turned back towards the narrow gash that was almost hidden among the tall grass. She walked towards it, drawn unconsciously to it, unheeding of the glances exchanged silently between the other senshi as they moved to follow her.

The Princess stopped at the edge of the dark gash, and looked down into it. It was dark indeed, a black expanse that scarred the landscape they stood upon. It was narrow, with jagged sides of rock and dirt.

"Hotaru's down there," the Princess said, not knowing how she knew.

"Hmm," uttered Sailor Jupiter as she leaned over the edge, looking down. "It'll be difficult for us to get down there."

"No, just me," instantly replied Sailor Chibimoon.

"You're not going down there alone," was the equally instant response from the Queen.

"I have to, Sailor Moon," argued the Princess, pointedly not addressing her mother as such. "I don't know why, but... maybe because all of you were there when Hotaru was so... hurt, and I wasn't. I just... feel like I need to go myself."

"There's no way you could climb down that loose rock and soil anyway," countered the Queen. "And I don't see a..."

Sailor Moon's argument was interrupted by a golden chain quietly whipped forward by Sailor Venus, that wrapped itself around the waist of Sailor Chibimoon.

"We can lower her down. And also instantly haul her back up, if need be," explained Sailor Venus.

They all looked to Sailor Moon, to see if this would answer her objections. Sailor Mars added quietly, "This whole thing is always a risk, Serenity."

Biting her lip, Sailor Moon nodded, conceding the point. The Princess broke out in a grin, and tugged at the golden Love-Me Chain that wrapped around her, testing its firmness.

"Don't worry, Sailor Chibimoon. It will not break," said Sailor Venus with utter conviction.

Sailor Mercury was still looking down the deep gash, with a puzzled look on her face. "Sailor Chibimoon... do you feel the power flowing, the power we're all manipulating, down here in some way?"

The Princess closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked directly at her mother. "Yes, I can feel it flowing from mama. Almost like we were holding hands down here, too."

Sailor Mercury pointed down into the gash in the ground. "Will you be able to use that power down there?"

Sailor Chibimoon's brow furrowed, her face showing her uncertainty. "I... don't think so. That doesn't feel right."

All the other senshi shared yet another glance, leaving unspoken what they all knew from experience - that feelings in these mind landscapes were usually the only clues to how to proceed, and the feelings of the one who led them all into it were the strongest signs.

Sailor Venus shrugged. "Send it down the chain, if need be."

"Have you done that kind of thing before, Sailor Venus?" asked the Princess, as she again moved her hand across the golden links wrapped around her waist.

"Sailor Jupiter has channeled her lightning down it before. No problem," replied Sailor Venus. Every senshi save the Princess remembered precisely what that had done to Sailor Venus herself at the time. But as Sailor Venus flashed a glance at them all, they remained silent.

"Well, all right then. Let's go," said the Princess as she moved forward, apparently intending on flinging herself down the deep gash immediately.

"Hang on a minute." "Wait." "Just hold on." The multiple exhortations from everyone halted the Princess in her tracks.

"Let's see if it works, first," said Sailor Venus, indicating the golden chain in her hands. "Ami, how should we test this?"

Sailor Mercury looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Well, up in reality, you're channeling the power back to Sailor Moon, who routes it to the Princess. Perhaps you can route it directly to the Princess?"

The Queen began to open her mouth in protest. But then, slowly, she closed her lips again, saying nothing.

Also saying nothing, Sailor Venus closed her eyes, and a look of deep concentration came over her face.

* * *

Artemis gasped, as he watched Sailor Venus' hand move from where it grasped the leg of Sailor Moon. Power crackled, almost blinding, arching between the hand of the senshi of love and the calf of the Queen. Then from Venus' hand shot the familiar golden chain, the end of it flying forward directly towards the form of the Princess.

Whose hand moved from the grasp of her mother, and caught the chain as it flew.

The arc of power disappeared, and the chain thrummed softly with the power flowing through it.

* * *

Both Sailor Chibimoon and Sailor Venus gasped, feeling the connection made between them along the golden chain, and the power flowing along it.

"It seems to be working," said Sailor Venus to the others, the Princess nodding in confirmation.

Sailor Moon stood still and silent, the change from even the distant feeling of power flowing from and back into her, to one of power only flowing out from her, leaving a strange and unsettling feeling of loss within her. But then Rei was there, next to her, lightly taking the Queen's hand in her own and softly squeezing. The Queen squeezed softly back, thankful that Rei, who understood her so well, was there.

* * *

The King, too, saw the movement of his daughter's hand as it caught the golden chain. The chain of Venus wrapped itself around the Princess' hand, coiling around her wrist to hold fast.

The King exchanged glances with Artemis, both knowing how unusual and different such a change was, and how few times anything like it had been done in their many attempts to awaken the senshi of silence, down through the ages. But both could do nothing but watch, and wait.

* * *

"Okay, then. I'm going down to Hotaru," said the Princess firmly, as she went over to the edge of the gash. Sailor Venus followed, chain kept securely in her grasp.

"You're going down alone?" asked Sailor Mercury, to confirm.

"That feels right," the Princess shrugged, not knowing how to better explain the utter certainty she felt.

"Well if we're all going to be up here, why not line up the way we kind of are back up there?" suggested Sailor Jupiter, referring to the way the power was flowing through them all back up in reality.

The strange sensation of rightness at the idea came to all of them at the same time, and they found themselves moving almost without realizing it into a line behind the Princess, with Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars directly behind her, and at each other's side. Sailor Mars reached out to grasp the wrist of Sailor Venus, helping stabilize her grip on the golden chain. Sailor Pluto, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Uranus stood as one behind Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars, all three reaching out to grasp the two by their shoulders. Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter took a place behind the trio, placing their hands on the three's shoulders as well. Sailor Moon stood alone in the back of the group, and as she placed her hands upon the shoulders of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter, all of them heard and felt a deep thrum. They all felt goose bumps rise up on their arms, the hair along them tingling, as the power flowed through them even stronger as their configuration here in this dream world matched the configuration of the power flowing through them in reality.

Sailor Mercury shook her head, quietly muttering, "Dream logic," in a vastly disapproving tone. Sailor Jupiter could not help but chuckle, knowing just how much the strange departures from the normal laws of physics that had always been part of the various dream landscapes they'd been in over the centuries, offended her lover on an almost personal level.

Sailor Chibimoon moved to the edge of the gash, and looked down into the stygian depths. Looking back at Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars, the Princess shrugged, and without another word she simply sat down on the edge, with her legs dangling down into the dark. She twisted herself around, holding herself halfway up with her hands on the grassy edge as her feet sought purchase in the dirt and rocks below. Finding a foothold, she slid herself down, moving at last her hands from the grass up to grasp the golden chain. All too suddenly, it seemed to the standing senshi, her pink hair disappeared from their view, dropping down beneath the earth.

For the Princess began a descent into dirt and dark. As she fitfully repelled down the side of the narrow chasm, dirt and loose stones seemed to be dislodged with her every movement. A thin trickle of soil even fell down from above, as the chain which supported her rubbed against the edge of the grass. As she slowly went lower, her eyes adjusted to the near absolute dark, and she could see the chain within her grasp softly glowing with the power within it. Also, there seemed to be another source of light, which took her a few minutes to realize was the moon sigil on her own brow, also softly glowing.

But as she descended, she realized that from below there was another source of light, which was growing in strength the closer she came to it. Peering down as best she could, it seemed to be at the bottom, and she was growing near.

For those at the top, the only sign of life was the twitch of the chain as the Princess moved deeper and deeper. Sailor Venus' grip upon it was fierce, though, and she was determined to never let it slip from her. She even made it longer, slowly so as not to cause the Princess to drop unexpectedly down, the chain growing subtly longer and longer as its' wielder also channeled the immense power from them all along the golden links.

Then, after what seemed so very long, Sailor Chibimoon could see the bottom beneath her, the strange light from one wall of the chasm providing enough illumination to finally tell that there even was a bottom at all. But just as there was only a meter remaining, the Princess discovered that she could no longer descend, as the chain above her stopped her progress.

"Just a meter or so more!" she yelled back to the top, wondering if they could even hear her.

They did hear her shout, the strange dream logic of this mental landscape letting her cries reach them even from far down below. However, Sailor Venus could not respond, as her grip contained the last few links of the chain, its ultimate length at last reached.

"I can't," she gasped to Sailor Mars beside her. "I can't make it longer and still strong enough to hold her without breaking." Her hands trembled with the strain of both the weight and her magical extension of her chain. Only Sailor Mars' grip around her wrists helped her keep the chain steady. Sailor Mars looked at the chain, a gently dancing line leading down into the earth. Her eyes grew wide with shock at seeing the fragility of the heart-shaped links, each being drawn out as fine as possible, already as thin as spider silk, pulsating with the power being driven down it.

* * *

Endymion felt his daughter tremble atop him. He had been watching all this while, her nudity letting him see the muscles in her back and shoulders bunching and straining, echoing her movements in whatever place she and all the senshi had gone to. He could feel her legs against him, their twitches coming through even the heavy cloth of his cape to his body beneath her.

As he watched, sweat began to slowly break out and trickle down her back. Her muscle flexing seemed more like a struggle. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the normally golden chain from Sailor Venus, in the Princess' hand and wrapped solidly around her wrist, begin to glow a dull red.

The King thought back to all his daughter had had to go through on this long, long day... the oath of silence she had to take... the passage through the maze of puzzle rooms... the descent into the little underground garden... her seeing the frozen form of Hotaru at long last... them all telling her of the coming of the ice on that terrible day so long ago... the revelation of everyone's sexual sharing amongst the members of the long-lived group... and the scream wrenching from his daughter's throat, as she realized that the stone figure was not a statue but was the actual body of her friend, the sound of which he knew would echo through his own nightmares until the end of his days... then the judgment upon Sailor Pluto, and the Princess' handling of it so brilliantly.

Yet, even though exhausted mentally and physically, here she was atop him, with them all, ignoring her embarrassed nudity, shoving aside the horrible secrets finally shown to her by them all, and giving of everything within herself to aid her friend.

Never had his pride in his daughter been so great, nor had his frustration at not being a senshi been so vast.

Through the centuries he had watched his wife and all their friends strive again and again to awaken the one to whom all owed all. Whether beneath them all as he was today, or beside them watching along with their mooncat advisors, or whatever strange position or permutation they would try, he could only watch as each attempt would fail. His largest contribution was being their seat cushion, or carrying their exhausted and limp bodies back up the spiraled stairs. His comparatively few and minor powers seemed designed solely for use in battle, and of no use at all in a struggle like this.

Except, maybe, now, for one thing he could do.

Endymion reached up with his right hand, and gently placed it against his daughter's back, just between where her wings emerged. His hand began to glow with that life-sustaining power that was his singular gift, offered to his daughter. Offered tentatively, hesitantly, as he did not know if it would be a hindrance or a help.

* * *

From the woods behind her, Sailor Moon heard a rustle. At first she ignored it, her concentration on pouring energy from the Silver Crystal in her hand back in reality, into the two forms of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter before her, and thence on forward to her daughter, so far away and down below.

But the quiet rustle quickly turned into a commotion, a strange sound of wood and bramble twisting and turning through grass and along the ground. Sailor Moon was stunned as branches of wood from the trees behind her, alight with a golden glow, were pulling themselves along the earth, seeming to seek something in their wooden progress. Although she dared not move or stop the flow of power amongst them, she was opening her mouth to shout warning to the others, when one of the glowing branches brushed against her foot.

Instantly Sailor Moon recognized the feel of the life-sustaining power of her husband, of her love, animating in some fashion these branches, brambles, and vines that twisted forward, seeking something.

"Um, everyone..." she hesitantly shouted to the others, "the King is trying to send reinforcements. I think."

They all twisted their heads, looking to the sides even as they stayed in their formation, save Sailor Venus who could only hold on, somehow, hold on to the chain in her grip. The branches moved towards them, eerie in their glow, towards the sound of the Queen's voice.

One branch, moving along the ground, seeking, glowing, brushed against the foot of Sailor Jupiter, who was somewhat alarmed as she watched it approach her. At the contact, the branch seemed to shake itself, then it rose straight up into the air beside her until it reached the level of her head. The end bent towards her, a leaf on the side of the branch turning to the side, reminding her of nothing so much as of a dog turning its head to the side in puzzlement.

"She's down there," Sailor Jupiter uttered to the branch while tilting her head in the direction of the torn gash in the earth, wondering even as she said it why on earth she was talking to a branch.

But the branch turned, as if to look at the gash, then turned back towards the senshi. Dipping its end towards her, as if nodding in acknowledgement or thanks, the branch then quickly fell back to the ground, and moved towards the gash with determination. The other branches and vines moved forward as well, following it, beside where the senshi stood but no longer touching their feet, the entangled mass forming a golden glowing wooden worm that writhed along the ground.

Sailor Jupiter turned to look at Sailor Mercury, who was staring wide-eyed at all this. "Oak branch," she told her lover, as if that explained it all.

With the power coursing through them, Sailor Mercury could only roll her eyes, adding, "With you, it would be oak. Of course." Then she shook her head again, muttering darkly, "Dream logic."

As the mass of wood and vine reached the edge of the gash in the ground, it again separated, spreading out along the edge, as if searching. Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars both held their breaths as the branches reached the golden chain upon which the Princess was suspended, both of them uncertain as to if they should try to prevent it or not.

As the first branch touched the chain, the others instantly leaped forward, driving themselves down its length into the chasm. A few spiraled back up the chain, twisting around it, to within a few centimeters of where Sailor Venus held the end in her grip. Then as they watched, vines followed the branches, twining themselves among and between the golden links. Reinforcing it, and lending the chain their own strength.

The branches extended down from the dangling chain, though still wrapped around it, and when the ends now reached the ground, roots shot from them into the soil. Soon the branches were firmly fixed in both the soil and around the chain, the vines binding each link to the other and to the branches.

Finally, a set of branches coiled away from the main cord around the golden chain, and shaped themselves into rough handles, and more or less presented themselves to both Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus. The two senshi looked at each other for a moment, silently asking each other if this were really happening. Then with a shrug from them both, with one free hand each took the handle of wood and vine before them, and both could feel the weight of the Princess below being taken up by the long entwining that now stretched into the earth.

Freed of the need to support any weight, Sailor Venus sighed in relief, and extended the chain even further, concentrating on being solely a power conduit. The links thinned even more, but the vines around them kept them from breaking, and the power from them all still flowed down to the Princess.

Down below, Sailor Chibimoon dangled at the end of the chain, feeling the links wrapped around her waist. The bottom appeared to be so close to her, and she began to wonder if she should remove the chain from around her and simply drop down the rest of the way.

Suddenly the chain above her began to vibrate furiously. Rapid little jerks of the chain set the Princess to swaying back and forth a bit, and she wondered if this was how a pendulum felt. But then, she could see the gold chain above her seem to increase in width somehow. As the increased width slid down more towards her, she realized that rather than the golden chain growing, something else that glowed with golden light was coming down it.

Quicker than she could react, the branches and vines were there, coiling around the chain, and then also around her. Suddenly she hung not from the chain, but more from the woody branches, which wrapped solidly around first her waist, then wrapped up around her shoulders and chest as well, forming a rough harness. She could see the tendrils of the vines weave themselves about the golden links of the chain, almost encasing the heart-shaped metal in a living rope.

The branches, apparently having reached their goal, surged a bit with the golden light which animated them, and the Princess felt her father's presence surround her. The familiar feeling of being held by her father, with his golden life-preserving glow sustaining her, filled her even as the branches moved to gently lower her the rest of the way to the chasm floor.

"I'm down," she shouted back up to the others, "thanks to papa!"

"Great!" replied Sailor Mars, shouting back down to her. "Can you see anything?"

The Princess turned to look more closely at what surrounded her. The one wall that she had descended upon was simply more loose rock and dirt. But turning around, towards the source of the dim light by which she could see at all, she found a wall, glowing with a strange dull green phosphorescence that screamed of illness and wrongness. The glow came from within the wall itself, and the Princess noticed that she could not tell if the wall was stone or ice or some other strange material. It did seem to be somewhat translucent, as if some of the light was coming from beyond the wall, as well as from it.

She was about to shout back up and describe what she was seeing, when she saw before her on the wall a section where a small series of scratches were carved into the surface of the wall. It was almost as if a gang of wild animals had furiously hacked at the wall with their claws, to no avail. As she examined the scratches more closely, the feeling of Hotaru being down here returned suddenly, strongly, and the Princess knew that Hotaru was behind this strange wall.

After Sailor Chibimoon had shouted this information back up to her fellow senshi, they all looked at each other as best they could while remaining in their power-flowing formation.

"If Hotaru is behind that wall, whatever it is, the scratches are probably what all of our attempts up until now have been able to accomplish," opined Sailor Mercury.

"Just scratches?" blurted Sailor Moon, from behind them all. "Hundreds and hundreds of years of trying, and just scratches?"

Sailor Mercury twisted her head back toward the Queen, and shouted back. "Remember, all this is just Small Lady's mental interpretation of whatever is actually going on. This wall or whatever is just a metaphor from her own mind. Scratches may be all that we've accomplished, or just all that she thinks we've accomplished. Or I'm completely misinterpreting them. No way to tell which."

Down below, Sailor Chibimoon examined the wall before her. She cupped her hands around her eyes and pressed her face to the wall, trying to see if she could peer through it. Eyes straining, she could not tell if what she thought she saw was really there or just her wanting it to be there so very badly, but it seemed as if a figure was sitting on the other side of the wall. A vaguely human-shaped figure.

"I think I can see something through the wall!" she yelled back up to everyone. "I'm going to try to get through somehow!"

The Princess stepped back from the wall and pondered, wondering just how she was supposed to get through the damn thing. She considered the section of chain wrapped around her waist, the only part of the golden links that were not currently entwined with vine reinforcements. She knew that Sailor Venus was channeling power down through the chain, but how to use it down here, she did not know.

While these thoughts raced through her mind, she idly picked at the small length of the chain where the end of it poked out a bit of the coils which wrapped around her. Suddenly, as she flicked at it with her fingers, the chain seemed to extend, wrapping around her hand as if it were a ribbon she had just spun from a spool. Before her eyes, her right hand became enveloped with chain, which then transformed from chain into a gauntlet, fit tight around her hand, a golden armored glove with sharp talons on each fingertip, with the chain connected to it looping up around her arm and shoulder, and joined back to the loops around her waist. As she looked at her own hand, amazed and not a little frightened, the gauntlet glowed with the same silvery energy that the senshi above were sending down to her.

"Well that's not exactly subtle," the Princess muttered to herself, wondering just how much of this supposed 'mental landscape' was really being controlled by her own mind. Still, it seemed to be an answer to her question, so she brought back her right hand in a fist and slammed the gauntlet against the sickly glowing wall.

The impact throomed through the little space at the bottom of the chasm, and the earth shook. The senshi above were startled, as the ground beneath them moved slightly, and the sound boomed from the chasm.

Sailor Moon cried desperately to her daughter, "Small Lady! Are you all right?"

"Yes, mama!" came the reassuring reply. "I just hit the wall with my chain-armored hand!"

The senshi looked at each other, as best they could, all wondering what a chain-armored hand was and where it came from. Sailor Venus closed her eyes, and tried to mentally feel along the length of chain that connected her with the Princess.

"I think she's wrapped the chain around her hand... somehow?" Sailor Venus said, back towards the others.

"Dream logic," replied Sailor Mercury, the distain dripping from her words.

While those above wondered what was going on below, the one below looked at the wall where she'd hit it. Nothing seemed to have happened at all, the wall absorbing the blow like she'd been hitting it with feathers.

"That doesn't seem like it will work," the Princess said, again muttering to herself. She looked closer at the wall, wondering if anything at all had happened when she hit it, and the previously existing scratches seemed to leap out at her. She held up the golden gauntlet, noticing again the metallic talons at the end of the fingers.

Tentatively, she swiped the talons at the wall, where the previous scratches were. To her great amazement, great hunks of material were hewn from the wall, disintegrating completely as they flew outward from the gouges she had just created. It was as if the wall was no real barrier at all, the ease with which she'd removed so much material from it.

Then her disappointment was just as great, as the wall quickly appeared to grow back into the huge channel that she'd just made. In the space of a breath, the wall was just as solid as it had been before.

"Well," Sailor Chibimoon thought, "I didn't think it was going to be that easy." The pink-haired senshi leaned forward toward the wall, and began slashing violently at it, as quickly as she could.

The ones standing above the ground, in formation, suddenly felt the power they were channeling to the Princess flow faster through them, being drawn down the chain of Venus. They weren't quite sure what, but something at last seemed to be happening. As one, all of them save Sailor Venus shut their eyes, bending all their thoughts and energy into channeling and amplifying the power of the Silver Crystal down to the one who wielded it. Sailor Venus kept her eyes open, making sure that her grip upon the chain did not falter.

* * *

Endymion kept his breath as controlled as he could, focusing his gaze intently on where his hand met his daughter's back. When he'd first placed it there, his offering of the life-sustaining power so tentatively given, for the first few moments he'd felt a sense of gentle confusion, which suddenly changed to his daughter eagerly drawing the golden energy within herself, seemingly thirsty for more. So more he was giving, drawing upon the reserves which always lay quiescent within him, ready to provide as much as his child demanded of him.

The mooncats heard the thrumming of the golden chain that stretched between Sailor Venus and Sailor Chibimoon increase in pitch. The gold links grew from their previous dull red to a glowing cherry color, the power obviously flowing faster along it. Artemis, on the side of the group where Sailor Venus was, cried out in shock as suddenly the figure of the human he'd been with for so many years was enveloped in flame, the tongues of fire seemingly leaping out from the nude flesh all around her body, save only where Sailor Venus was held fast in the grip of Sailor Mars.

* * *

"Rei," said Sailor Venus casually to her friend, beside her at the lip of the dark chasm.

"Yes, Mina?" replied Sailor Mars, not opening her eyes.

"My body seems to be on fire, back up there. Could you take care of that for me?"

Sailor Mars opened her eyes at that, blinking at her fellow senshi beside her. "Sure," she replied, her equally casual words belying the fear that sprang within her. Carefully keeping her own grip on both the wooden handle connecting them to the Princess below, and where she was helping steady Sailor Venus' grip on the chain by holding onto her wrist, Sailor Mars twisted her head back to address the group behind her.

"Ami," she called back, voice still deceptively casual.

"Yes, Rei?" Sailor Mercury replied, not opening her eyes either.

"Minako seems to be on fire, back in reality. I'm going to help her. Air, or ground, do you think?"

Sailor Mercury's eyes popped open as rapidly as Sailor Mars' had. "Ah," she replied, "ground would be best."

"Okay," replied Sailor Mars, turning her head back to the front and closing her eyes again. Sailor Mercury did the same, both turning their minds to act in reality while still channeling power in formation down here in the mental landscape.

All the others had heard the exchange, and concern for Sailor Venus flashed through their minds. Everyone remembered the event Sailor Venus had referenced earlier in her confident reply to the Princess, when Sailor Venus had used her Love-Me Chain to permit Sailor Jupiter to channel her lightning down it and hit with the needed pinpoint accuracy, to devastating effect. Everyone remembered, as well, that Sailor Venus had borne the very same effect to herself by Jupiter's power, and the desperate struggle as the rest had fought to protect her broken and burned body where she had collapsed. Though she had recovered within days after that battle, never again had she used her chain in such a fashion. Until today.

Everyone put the memory out of their minds, all knowing precisely what Minako was doing, and knowing why. And all thankful that flames, at least, were something that could be dealt with.

* * *

Even as the cry finished leaving Artemis' lips, he saw Sailor Mars act. Sailor Mars took her hand from the back of Sailor Venus, from where her arm curled around her blonde friend and clasped them together. Pointing her arm straight up, Sailor Mars then drove her hand downwards, fingers straight out, her arm curling back around the fiery form of Sailor Venus as her fingers and hand jammed deep into the soft soil upon which they lay.

Instantly the flames around Sailor Venus ceased, Sailor Mars drawing them from her friend's body and directing it into the earth beneath them.

On the other side of the group, Luna gasped as Sailor Mercury moved as well. Her one hand being occupied with holding on to Sailor Moon's calf and the other with holding Sailor Jupiter to her, Sailor Mercury raised her leg from where it was entwined with the legs of her taller lover. She curled her leg completely over the form of Sailor Jupiter, and set her foot flat upon the ground behind the other woman.

Diana whirled, the sound of the little stream behind her, flowing around the bottom of the hill, suddenly changing vastly in tone. She watched, amazed, as the water flowed from the banks of the stream, moving up along the surface of the ground towards the top of the hill. A bit from the top, well before reaching the group atop it or the cats at their posts, the water flowed into the ground itself, seeming to almost cut the top of the hill off from the rest of the ground beneath it. Then all three of the cats watched as the water flowed back out of the ground from the other side of the hill and back down along the surface on that side, until tumbling again into the creek bed that was its normal path. As well, the three could see that the water as it came back from under the hill, was steaming, giant plumes of vapor curling from it, as it neared the boiling point.

"Father...?" Diana called, nervously. "Mother...? Is... is this what normally happens?"

Both her parents looked at their daughter, and silently shook their heads, their gestures saying louder than any words how utterly abnormal this was.

"What exactly _is_ happening?" Diana called, her uncertainty plain in her voice.

"Sailor Mars is drawing the flames from Sailor Venus' body, and sending them down into the ground," answered Artemis.

"And then Sailor Mercury is directing the water to carry the heat away from the ground and away, so the hill doesn't melt into magma," added Luna.

"Oh," replied Diana, eyes wide, not knowing anything else to say.

The three cats stayed at their posts, knowing that all they could see had to be remembered and recorded for future attempts. What Diana did not know is that this would already be the most eventful attempt they'd recorded in over half a millennia.

* * *

Sailor Chibimoon had to pause, leaning against the very wall she was trying to penetrate, her chest heaving with her labored effort. As she did so, she wearily watched the wall again reform itself, the deep gouges she'd dug into it disappearing, leaving only slightly deeper scratches on the surface than had been there before she'd started.

She let her armored right hand hang limply at her side, as she leaned against the wall on her left side, her left arm stretched out along it to hold herself up. It seemed she was too tired, after all, to be able to dig through the wall faster than it regrew.

She hung her head, telling herself she was just getting her breath back, that she would start again in a minute, and that the tears that were threatening to burst free from her eyes absolutely would not. She began to wonder if Diana hadn't been right, and her mother too. Her mother's repeated questions, as to if her daughter wanted to try another day, had communicated her worries as clearly as if she'd said them openly.

But then she remembered the frozen look of anguish on the stony face of her friend, and realized that even if it meant her father would have to carry her exhausted body back up the stairs along with the rest of the senshi, she had to keep trying.

So she woozily pushed herself back off the wall that she had quickly grown to loathe. As she did so, she noticed a faint golden light on the surface of the greenly glowing wall, from the same spot where her body had been leaning against it. As she looked closer, she saw several grooves cut into the surface, which faintly shone with fading gold. Amazed, she saw the grooves closing, the wall reforming itself over where they were, but much much slower than from where she'd been attacking it with her armored fist.

Even as the grooves faded, she looked at them, and down at her side, and back again, realizing that the pattern of the grooves matched the vines and branches that curled around her trunk.

Hope springing within her, she again swung the golden gauntlet at the wall, using its silver energy to claw at the hated wall. Hunks of it flew, but as it started to regrow, Sailor Chibimoon shoved her vine covered shoulder into the hole.

The wall regrew just as quickly, the sickly green pushing insistently at her flesh, seeking to drive her back. But where the vines were, there was little pressure, and the wall could not push as forcefully. She withdrew her shoulder, and looked, seeing the imprint of the crossed and twisted vines in the hole, and how the wall only very slowly could repair itself in that area.

She looked at the vines and branches around her, that had come from her father and had helped finish her descent, and even now held her gently in their grasp. She looked the golden gauntlet around her right hand, somehow made from the coils of Sailor Venus' Love-Me Chain, and the silver energy coming down into it from her mother and all the other senshi up above. An idea came to her, and she began to gently pick and pull with her uncovered hand at the mess of vine and branch around her chest, seeking an end point.

Finding one at last, she pulled the end of a branch out from where it entangled around her. She tried to tug it onto her shoulder and thence down her arm, but the branch seemed intent on staying around her. Finally, feeling incredibly foolish even as she did so, she just outright spoke to the branch, saying, "Look, can you make some kind of covering on my hand, like this?" and waved her right hand at it.

Suddenly the end of the branch seemed to come alive, and it seemed to look up at her, then turned to look at her gauntleted hand. She felt the branch twitch in her hand, a feeling she could only interpret as a kind of shrug. Then the mass of vine and branch that were the harness around her truck moved, sliding parts of themselves along her shoulder and down her left arm. On reaching her hand, they merged, forming a kind of wooden shell around her hand and fingers. Tentatively she flexed her hand, finding that the wooden surface flexed easily as well, and to her skin it felt like silk surrounding it. Between the wood over her fingers were thin webbings, connecting her fingers but not hindering any movement.

Sailor Chibimoon cut again at the hated wall with her right hand, the hunks easily flying away into nothingness as always. But then she put her left hand, now covered with the gauntlet of wood, glowing faintly with the golden life energy coming down from her father, quickly into the fresh hole. As she watched, the material of wall grew back just as quickly, until contacting the wood of the gauntlet. Then it slowed vastly, and took a very long time to slowly push her hand back out and reseal the entire hole.

Grinning fiercely, the pink-haired Princess began attacking the wall anew, dragging out great hunks of wall with her right hand, and holding back the progress of regrowth with her left hand jammed into the hole. This kept the left side almost constant, and while the growth of the right side was just as quick as before, by only having to fight against one side, she found she could attack it fast enough to finally begin to make some progress at digging through the wall.

Feeling like a crazed badger, Sailor Chibimoon tore fiercely into the wall, her right arm flying back and forth as her left pressed to hold every small centimeter of gain. But gain there was, her attempts slowly making the hole in the wall deeper, and deeper still.

* * *

The King was drenched with sweat, as was his daughter atop him. He could feel the muscles in the Princess' back twitching rhythmically, the faint physical response a mere echo of whatever titanic battle she was fighting. He kept pouring the golden energy into her, and she kept sucking it down, using it in whatever she was doing.

The sweat on the King, at least, was not caused just from his efforts, though. The entire area around the little hill was beginning to be bathed in fog, as the continual flow of water by Sailor Mercury through the hill to carry away the heat from the flames that Sailor Mars was pouring into the earth, caused the humidity in the underground chamber to climb ever higher, as more and more heat caused the water to nearly boil.

That did not concern Endymion, however, as he knew how deep the wells which supplied water to the garden were. What was giving him chills, even as the sweat dripped from his body, was watching the golden chain, connecting Sailor Venus with his daughter's hand, growing ever whiter with the energy pouring down it.

What was making him even more afraid, though, was that the pool of energy within him, that he had used in the past to sustain the life of his daughter, that had always seemed so vast, now seemed to be almost used up. He was, bit by bit, feeling more and more empty inside than he had ever felt in his long, long life.

* * *

Sailor Chibimoon felt her heart soar, as she seemed to be almost through the wall. The wall seemed to be doubling its efforts to repel her, though, and she was fighting more for each incremental advance. Her left hand was fully jammed into the hole, keeping that side at bay.

As she slid her left hand even further into the hole, the edge of the wooden gauntlet was now just inside the outer edge of the wall. Horrified, the Princess felt the wall's edge pushing there, against the bare portion of her left arm above the gauntlet, with the same rapid rate of regrowth as on the right.

She shouted at the branches wrapped around her, "Please! Can you grow a shield back down my arm! From the wooden glove! Please, oh please!" even as she desperately kept clawing at the right side, determined not to lose the precious gains she had already won.

The wood seemed to grow a bit back down her arm, from the edge of the gauntlet, but after an initial few centimeters it faltered. The golden glow, running down the vines and branches around her and down her arm to her hand, flickered in and out. To the Princess' growing dismay, the silver energy flowing down the golden chain began to flicker as well.

Even as she pressed the wood against the left side of the hole and kept clawing at the right side, Sailor Chibimoon threw back her head and screamed upward with all her waning strength, "Mama! Papa! Please! I'm so close! I need more power!"

The senshi standing on the grass by the edge of the deep gash in the earth, in the mental landscape created by their Princess, heard her desperate cry from below. Without uttering a word, without needing even a glance between them, all eight fell to their knees as one, keeping their holds on one another, straining their bodies and souls forward, determined to wrest every last bit of energy from the crystal, from their friends, and from themselves, and send it along that terribly thin chain forged from links of love, down and down and down, to the littlest senshi of them all.

* * *

The King was startled to hear, without warning, a clear and desperate cry from his daughter's lips, "Mama... Papa... _more_!"

He steeled himself to pour the last meager bits of the life-sustaining energy from the pool inside him, which he'd once in his hubris considered so vast, into the begging body of his daughter before him. But then Endymion was startled to see his wife's face come into view, as she moved her head from behind that of the figure of Hotaru, to look her husband in the eyes. Just a glance they shared, a bare moment, but in that moment each silently said again to the other all the vast love that was shared between the two of them.

Then his wife moved her head back, placing her cheek again on the back of the stony figure of Hotaru, around whom her arms still wrapped. Then, to his horror, the King saw the figure of his wife, the parts of her arms and legs he could see around the shapes of his daughter and her friend, begin to fade and become translucent.

The watching mooncats shared his dread, as they too saw the figure of Sailor Moon fade, becoming a translucent ghost-like shape. Through her body, they could now see the Silver Crystal like a thing afire in her hand, the shining sigil on her forehead, and the torrent of power running from the Crystal through Sailor Moon's faded body, down to where Sailor Mercury gripped the fading leg. All instantly realized that their Queen was pouring not just the energy, not just her heart and her soul, but her very existence down the torrent of force flowing from her.

Then, as the King began to beat the ground with one arm, for what reason the mooncats knew not, their fright grew as the figures of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter began to turn translucent as well.

* * *

In the merged minds of the two lovers, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter, both realized that Sailor Moon was sending down to them her very soul and essence, sacrificing herself if need be in answer to her daughter's desperate cry. The two senshi were already linked at such a low level, that words between them were no longer required. Each instantly offered to the other, and accepted from the other, the idea of sharing all of themselves as well, not willing to let Sailor Moon be the only sacrifice.

So the two entwined figures, the senshi of water and the senshi of thunder, entwined their essences as well, Makoto's twin nature of oak and lightning merging with Ami's nature of water, the water invigorating the oak while the lightning exhilarated the water. Not just a low level mind linking, but an utter joining, with nothing kept hidden, nothing kept back. Both willingly joining themselves, their senshi natures, with the power amplified by them both, and with their love for one another, and sending it on.

* * *

Luna could only stare, inarticulate in the face of what was happening before her. The figures of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter had faded, joining Sailor Moon in a ghost-like state. Through the outlines of their figures could clearly be seen the coils of power winding through them, amplified as it coursed through their bodies. Also visible were their star seeds, pulsating in each of their chests, both shining crystals flickering in beat with the other, and their shining sigils joined as one.

* * *

The King was beating his free arm against the ground, the only movement of his body he dared to make, the only physical manifestation he could give to his frustration. His daughter was calling to him for power she obviously was desperate for, and he was but instants away from becoming an empty powerless husk. His wife might be fading out of existence right in front of his eyes, sacrificing herself for their daughter in a way he could not. And still those eyes of stone, locked in icy agony for almost a thousand years, still seemed to stare down accusingly at him, as they had in all their futile attempts to awaken the one who'd saved them all.

And he was but a valueless functionary, mildly capable at some small tasks, but useless at anything real, anything important... these were the frantic thoughts that flowed through the mind of the King, as he castigated himself mercilessly, feeling he was about to fail his daughter, his wife, and even the one who had so long ago poured all of herself into his otherwise useless body to heal the whole planet...

At that thought, the King's eyes went wide, and he wondered if he were indeed the greatest fool ever to set foot upon the world.

* * *

The triad of Sailor Neptune, Sailor Uranus, and Sailor Pluto could also feel what Serenity, Ami, and Makoto were doing. Initially linked with each other at a much higher level than Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter had been, as linking with three was far more difficult than with two, all three now opened themselves further to each other.

Michiru and Haruka were naturally long used to linking their minds with one another, and both instantly offered themselves and their essential senshi natures, to one other, just as the three senshi upstream of them in the power flow had done. Mentally, they both turned to Setsuna, in offer and entreaty both.

Who in turn with no words needed joined as well, joined fully, sharing with the others an image of all of them together back in the little house in Tokyo, those long centuries ago, laughing and talking and just being at home with the one they'd come to think of as their daughter, Hotaru, so long away from them all.

Thus the senshi of sky and the senshi of sea merged, joined as one, and then merged as well with the senshi of time. The essences of sky and sea were not long lived compared to the vastness of cosmic time, but by human scale both were long indeed, and the three eternal senshi poured all of themselves into the flow of power now thundering through them. A sea-sky horizon dancing with time itself.

* * *

Both Luna and Artemis watched, from either side, as now the forms of the three outer senshi began to fade in the same way as the others before. The torrent of power coiling through them all madly was visible, along with the three star seeds, and the sigils pressed near each other in a pyramid of light.

The two mooncats were both startled when Diana called to them, very hesitantly, "Um... is this normal, too?"

"NO!" was the instant reply from both her parents, and Diana flinched. The little mooncat decided she probably shouldn't ask any more questions right now.

All three could only take heart that at least none of the fading senshi had completely disappeared. All of them were still there; almost transparent, but there, the silver energy surging through them.

But then Artemis, at least, could take heart no longer. For as he cried out in anguish, the forms of Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus now started to fade as well, even as flames again flickered all along Sailor Venus' body.

* * *

The merged minds of the two last senshi in the flow of power that raced within and through them all, had been joined at a low, but not extremely low, level of connection. That was the usual way that Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars joined, the two friends comfortable with each other after so very many years.

But as they felt all the others offer up the very last portions of themselves, felt them offer up all, Minako opened and offered up all of herself to the one she was linked to as well.

As Rei began to open herself up and join with Minako, though, she was startled at the feeling coming to her from Minako's own body that Minako was in flames yet again. Rei jumped back mentally, shocked that the flames were now exceeding her own capacity for drawing them away from her friend.

In the mental space they shared, Rei looked at Minako, blurting out, "Minako, you're on fire again! There's too much power going through the chain!"

Minako nodded, replying, "I know. The Love-Me Chain is a part of me, you know. Strong, yes; conductive, not so much."

Rei looked at her friend in growing fear. "Minako... you're dying."

Minako simply shrugged. "Probably, yeah. I'd rather not, so if you can save my ass, please do so. But..."

In that pause, Minako sent to Rei the image of the spare room in Rei's shrine, back in the twentieth century before the coming of the ice, where two nude girls hugged each other, as through the window dawn slowly rose to shine its light upon their bodies. Minako held Hotaru within her arms, trying to comfort the younger girl, the words Minako had just spoken seeming to echo around the room, _"Hotaru, I know you think it's hopeless, but I swear I'll do everything I can to make you see Chibi-usa again."_

"... you'll have to do it. I have a promise to keep," concluded Minako.

"But Minako, you can't die to do it!" Rei almost shouted back.

"Why not? Hotaru died for us, or something so close to death as to make no difference. Maybe the cost is going to have to be one of us dying to bring her back. Better just one of us than all of us, right?

"We've lived long, long lives, longer than anyone deserves. If I fall here, I can't complain much. I'd rather keep going, mind you, but..." and again she shrugged.

"But we can try another way, try something other than with your chain, try..." started Rei.

Minako just shook her head. "I'm sorry Rei. I think it's now, or never - and I choose now. Besides," she added, moving to stroke Rei's cheek gently with her hand, "we don't have time."

Minako again opened herself completely, nothing hidden, and offered herself to Rei. Who again opened herself as well, and joined with her friend. They merged, entwining all of themselves, their very essences, as the other senshi before them had done. Fire and love danced together, twisting and turning, laughter and sorrow, and both saw at the last that it was love which burned the brightest.

The silver power thundered through them, down the chain to the one so far below, and the fading body of love blazed with its passage.

* * *

Endymion, cursing himself for an idiot, stopped beating the ground with his arm. He stretched his arm out, past the area of bare dirt, and grasped the blades of grass that were just within his reach. Gripping the living blades tightly, he closed his eyes. He drove his mind inward, moving down beneath his physical body, down beneath the near-empty pool of golden light within him. Down past a shining blob that might have been his own body's seed, he was not sure. Then further down still, seeking for the thing within him that he had never sought before, never thought to seek before, never needed so much to find before.

His link with the life of Earth.

It seemed a narrow reed, so faint within him, when he found it, far further down than he ever believed he could go. He grabbed it, and felt it pulse within him, echoing the heartbeat of his body with one beat, and of the life of the planet with another.

Then the King of the Earth began to use that link of life, down which Hotaru Tomoe had so long ago poured all the healing energy that her tortured body could provide, in order to save the planet for her friend. But now, rather than pour energy down the link into the planet, Tuxedo Kamen began to pull energy _from_ it.

* * *

Around the planet, plants wilted. Insects stopped flying, dropping down from the air. Birds shuddered, either clinging to a perch or flapping awkwardly down to the ground, suddenly too weak to fly. Woodland creatures collapsed, panting and frightened from their sudden weakness.

Humans were not immune. The people enjoying the worldwide holiday all shook, most dropping to their knees or collapsing fully to the floor. Safety systems in planes and ground transports kicked in, guiding their occupants to safety as the pilots and drivers suddenly were too weak to control anything, many passing out completely. Parties and celebrations everywhere shuddered to a stop, as the men, women, and children all trembled and collapsed, panting, to the ground.

No part of the globe was unaffected. Life, whatever its form, regardless of function or location, was having the living energy pulled from it, by the King of the Earth. Not all the energy from anything, not enough to snuff that life out. But every living thing on this planet owed a debt, from long ago, and now a chance had come to pay that debt back, with interest. The King was determined that the debt would at last be paid, and in full.

He pulled that life energy through the link, and he pulled, and he pulled. The reservoir of life-sustaining energy within him, that had just run bone dry, now filled to overflowing. His soul surged, and he realized his self-deprecating thoughts of the minutes before had been echoes of the emptiness within him. That emptiness now full again, he flung the surging energy of life up and up, resolute that his daughter would have every drop of it that she could ever need.

* * *

The three royal advisors noticed the wilting grass and the drooping trees around them, even through the increasing fog. But then mooncat eyes could not go any wider, it seemed, as they watched the entire arm of the King that pressed against the Princess' back burst into golden brightness, alight with the vast energy the King was giving to his daughter.

With the silver energy of crystal and star seed flowing into her hand, and the golden energy of life flowing into her back, thus did Princess Small Lady Usagi, Sailor Chibimoon, come into her full birthright, the child of Earth and Moon at last drawing upon both sides of her heritage. Employing as no one else could the power of Earth and Moon both, of life and of love, wielded as one.

* * *

The Princess was shocked at the surge of power that came plummeting down into the dark to her, in response to her plea. The wooden gauntlet on her left hand surged with golden light. A woven shield grew back along her arm from her hand, almost the size of half an umbrella, the branches entwining themselves to block completely the malevolent wall from crowding back on that side.

Likewise, the pulse of silver energy flowing down into the armored gauntlet on her right hand set her whole side to tingling. Hope renewed within her, she tore great hunks from the wall, the masses of material still fighting to regrow even as she hewed them away, again and again. Fighting for each small advance, she carved on the right and slid forward on the left, slowly cutting a slightly slanting path through the increasingly resisting barrier.

Then she was through.

The hole opened up to the other side, a hunk of space through the wall via which she could see, at last, what lay beyond. What she saw at first was simply wisps of mist, flowing about, even as she desperately continued to fight the wall, which seemed frantic to repel her now.

But then, the mists cleared a bit, and she could see a figure sitting, all alone, almost huddled down. It appeared to be so close, a mere step or two away from her now. She could not see the figure's face, nor the rest clearly, but something sang within her that this was Hotaru before her. Just out of reach.

"Hotaru!" the Princess screamed, while still fighting the wall with both arms, her head almost forced into the hole to reach to the other side. "It's me! Small Lady! Chibi-usa! Please! Wake up!"

The head of the figure seemed to move, just a little, as if not quite hearing a distant sound. Then, shaking a little, as if telling itself it was just a dream, not actually there, it resumed its hunched posture.

"Hotaru! Sailor Saturn! It's me! Really! Chibi-usa!" the Princess shouted, her right arm burning both with the silver energy and the ache of tearing again and again at the remorseless wall. "Please! Wake up! Take my hand! I'm here to bring you back! Please! I'm Sailor Chibimoon! Listen to me!"

The figure's head came up now, facing towards the struggling Princess. It seemed disinclined to do more though, as if not believing her words, or that they could possibly be other than lies.

Sailor Chibimoon began screaming, not knowing or caring what she said, just anything, anything at all that would or could get that figure in the mist to take the step or two that could make her reachable. Because the wall was starting to turn the tide. Even with the surging tides of silver and gold at her hands, the Princess was near the end of her own ability to keep fighting. Each press back against the slow constant pressure on the left, and each visceral tear of the wall material on the right, was coming just a bit slower, just a bit less powerful. She desperately turned her body, pushing her left hand almost completely past the wall's edge on the far side, at the cost of making it harder to keep tearing and tearing at the hole on the right.

"Hotaru! Saturn! Please! I... I love you! I'm your friend! Please, you don't have to stay here! You don't have to be alone! Come with me, out of this place! Please! Come to me! I can't push forward anymore! Take my hand, please! We'll go back, back to Crystal Tokyo!"

The figure seemed to at last move a bit, taking one step forward. The Princess stretched desperately, but it was still just beyond her grasp. She was weakening, and she knew it, and the size of the hole was starting to shrink again.

She stopped shouting then, saving her strength for what she feared might be her last chance. She tore desperately at the wall, her right shoulder and elbow afire, tears flowing freely down her face to mix with the sweat pouring off her brow. Her efforts seemed effective, pushing back the edges of the hole a few precious bits.

She turned almost completely to one side, frantically grasping the woven shield pressed against her left arm and twisting it around her arm to press now on the right side instead. She now had but her left arm in the hole, and the shield was stopping the advance of the right side while the lingering golden energy that had pressed against the left kept the wall, for a few brief moments, from rushing forward.

The Princess jammed her whole body into the now slowly closing hole, stretching as far as possible, trying to reach the misty figure, desperately grasping for it. She was but a hand's width away from reaching it. A distance that might as well have been forever.

"Hotaru," she pleaded, the hole slowly closing and closing even as she struggled to reach forward. "Please. I can't do it all. Take my hand!"

The figure seemed to raise its arm, and move it towards the Princess' outstretched hand, but it hesitated. The hesitation tore at the Princess' heart all anew, and she almost collapsed weeping to the floor. But instead she rammed her body again against the hated wall, reaching, ever reaching, as the hole grew still smaller. It was near to being only as wide as her own arm, and she could now just see a sliver through to the other side, where the figure was still wrapped in the flowing mists.

"Hotaru," said Sailor Chibimoon, her voice croaking, now barely above the level of a whisper. "Please don't leave me alone."

Even as the Princess was thinking that she might have to pull her arm back, lest the wall close upon it and sever it from her body, the misted figure, at last, put its own hand forward to take the hand of the Princess. Even through the wooden gauntlet, Sailor Chibimoon felt the fingers softly take hold of her hand, and she grasped them firmly. Through the small sliver that was now all she could see through, the Princess saw the mist melt away, and saw the tortured face of Hotaru, with tears eternally coursing down her face.

The wall, like the mist, blew away, suddenly gone like a bad dream. Sailor Chibimoon grabbed at Sailor Saturn, wrapping both her arms and legs around her friend's nude figure, desperate lest something new come swirling out of this hellish place and come between them again. Even as she felt Hotaru's arms wrapping around her as well, she screamed upward for the senshi, for her father, for anyone and everyone, to pull them up, please pull them up.

They were instantly flying, back through the dirt and the dark, the two girls gripping each other with whatever strength remained to them. The chain and the branches, pulling them back, hauling them out. Up, and up, and up.

* * *

The sudden sound of rock snapping tore through the air of the underground chamber. At first the trio of mooncats thought that the hilltop might be giving way under the onslaught of the heat that Sailor Mars was still pouring into it. Then they all gasped in wonder, as a shaft of light came shining through the icy stone covering around Sailor Saturn, her prison for almost a thousand years, via a crack that appeared over her chest.

As they and the King watched, the stone figure became crisscrossed with cracks, the cracks growing wider, light of gold and silver pouring through each fissure. The King yelled, desperately driving more energy into the back of his daughter as she greedily drank it down as fast as he could give it to her.

Then the figure moved. The stone covering, clinging stubbornly to its victim, groaned and grinded as the stony figure moved, drawing itself back from Sailor Chibimoon, who had had her forehead pressed firmly against the figure of her friend. As it drew back, the sigil of the Princess was no longer against the figure. But as the distance between them grew, the mooncats could see a coursing braid of energy still flowing from the Princess' sigil to the place on the forehead of the figure where Saturn's sigil would shine, were it free of the icy stone.

The Princess slid back, eyes still closed, her arms sliding from around her friend's figure to hang back limply, like her wings were now doing. Only the gold-covered arm of her father kept her upright upon him, even as the energy braid stretched further, still connecting the two.

As the Princess fell back, all with open eyes could see the gold and silver energy, twisting and entwining, that made up the braided cord through which the energy still flowed from the Princess to the stone figure. Even as that cord of energy grew longer, the stony figure began to move upright, the encrusted arms twitching and flopping, like a balloon being slowly and unevenly inflated. In moments, the figure was no longer crouched over the body of the King, but sitting upright, still moving weirdly, as the stone now began to fall away. First flakes, then small chunks, falling first from the flopping arms, then spreading to the shoulders, and the neck, and the chest, and on around the entire twitching figure.

Sailor Moon had been pushed back from her position of leaning against the back of the stony figure, and was now sitting upright herself. Her translucent form still had one arm hooked around the stone figure, and her wings were stretched out and up to their utmost. Suddenly her eyes opened, seeing the figure before her in its new position, finally moving after so many centuries. With a surprised blink, she was back in her normal opaque self, her nude body seeming to be a shout of flesh compared to the ghost-like state she had just left. She pulled herself back a bit from the figure now sitting up in front of her, though she continued to draw energy from the Silver Crystal in her hand and send it down the line through her fellow senshi.

In quick succession, the other senshi also blinked back into solidness from their translucent state, each feeling the ones up the link recalling themselves from the brink. Quickly, the last pair, Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus, returned to being substantial. The cruel flames engulfing the senshi of love returned to substance as well, burning as the energy tore through her and her golden chain, with Sailor Mars fighting to draw them away and down into the earth.

The stone figure then grew erect, not so much standing as seeming to become more inflated and filled with the energy flowing into it. The cracks along the figure grew wider and deeper, shafts of gold light mixing with shafts of silver, traveling at the last down the figure's slender legs.

The Princess twitched and flopped against her father's arm, and the line of energy from her sigil that had been a braid of gold and silver suddenly changed to become a solid channel of light, the silver and the gold no longer separate but mixed thoroughly and now as one.

With an explosion of sound, the stone and ice that had encased the figure of Hotaru Tomoe for nigh a thousand years ripped apart and shot outward in all directions. The royal family all received small cuts from the flying rock as it struck them or flew past, but all ignored it completely, as the line of energy flowing from the Princess' forehead extinguished itself. Likewise, the golden energy disappeared from the King's arm, and the silver energy from the Crystal both ceased, no longer having a place to flow to.

With a sound like doom arriving, the Silence Glaive flew from the soil, through the air to smack into the palm of the now released figure, which stood up straight on her feet. Sailor Saturn stood free at last, grasping the Glaive in her right hand as she readied for battle, bringing the Glaive to bear in front of her, once more nude save for the choker around her neck. Golden light dripped from her right eye as silver light dripped from her left. The Senshi of Death and Rebirth, come again into the world.

Sailor Chibimoon, having flopped back into the arms of the King at the moment the energy cord was cut, cracked open her eyes, slowly focusing on her long-lost friend, now towering above her, with fire dripping from her eyes. The Princess coughed, weakly, and croaked out, "Ho.. Hotaru?"

Sailor Saturn lowered the Glaive in her grip to the side, as if becoming aware of her surroundings. She blinked, and the shining light from her eyes stopped dripping; another blink, and the light was gone, her sight returning to normal. Hotaru blinked several times more, as she swayed slightly, and looked down upon her friend, even as the Princess feebly reached out to her.

"Chi... bi..." was all Hotaru said.

Then she collapsed, falling back into the arms of Sailor Moon, even as the Princess' own eyes rolled back up into her head, and she fell back into the arms of her father. Seemingly in concert, the Silence Glaive disappeared and the choker of Sailor Saturn disappeared, even as the wings of the Princess wavered and were gone, and the choker of Sailor Chibimoon vanished as well. Neither senshi having strength or awareness left to maintain their transformation, it was now just two small naked girls in the arms of the King and the Queen.

"Mamo-chan!" cried the Queen, the fear in her voice cutting through them all, her eyes locked solely on her daughter even as her own arms caught and clutched at the slender form of Hotaru.

The King's figure flared again with golden light, now the calm glow that he had used so often before to sustain his daughter's life. The glow surrounded the Princess, even as Ami dragged herself forward on all fours, pressing her ear against the Princess' chest and her hand at the girl's throat.

"She's just utterly exhausted; she'll be okay," Ami croaked out in reassurance, even as she threw herself at the collapsed form of Hotaru. As she performed the same quick exam of Hotaru, Ami's eyes grew wide in panic.

"Hotaru's just barely alive, we have to get her to the clinic, right now!" she yelled, her voice mostly returning. The Queen grabbed the nude girl more firmly in her arms, pulling her wings in close behind her as she stood, saying "Help me teleport!"

"No!" screamed Ami, "a teleport might kill her. Take her!"

The Queen shot a glance at her daughter again, now cradled in the arms of her father as he sat upright, surrounding her with the golden glow. Endymion shouted at his wife, "I have her, Usagi! Go!"

"Which way?" the Queen cried, looking upward into the misty fog.

Rising up to her knees, Sailor Mercury raised one hand above her head, then clenched her fist. Instantly the swirling mist came together in one mass, leaving the air clear except for the sudden single cloud above them. Mercury swung her arm downward, and the cloud dived for the ground, coalescing back into water as it impacted on the far side of the park.

Ami pointed up at a section of the crystalline bottom of the palace, now visible again above them. "There!" she cried.

Sailor Moon shifted Hotaru in her grasp, taking a firm hold on the limp form, even as she bent her knees and spread her wings. She leapt into the air, wings beating fiercely, with the Silver Crystal burning brightly between her bare breasts. As the others watched, Sailor Moon flew rapidly closer and closer to the ceiling of the chamber, which was the bottom-most floor of the palace. Approaching the crystalline mass, Serenity did not stop, but flew directly at it, only increasing her speed. As the Silver Crystal flared even brighter upon her chest, the Queen flew through the bottom of the palace, the material of the floors and walls flowing away before her as fast as her flight, cutting a gaping hole through the heart of the building. A few feathers slowly drifted down through the new passage, fluttering gently on their long way back down to the ground.

"Ami!" screamed Sailor Mars. All those still in what was left of the little underground park tore their eyes away from the flight of Sailor Moon, to look first at Sailor Mars herself, then at what she clutched in her arms, still lying on the floor of the chamber.

The charred form of Sailor Venus.

Minako lay utterly inert, most of her flesh burned red, the blonde hair singed into patches upon her head, the red ribbon burned away. Her right arm, which had grasped her golden chain of love for so long, was now a mass of black, cooked flesh. The horrible sight before them was made worse by the contrast with the healthy flesh of Sailor Mars, pressed against it, Rei afraid to move lest she cause Minako more harm.

Ami lunged down to Minako's body, trying to see if any sign of life was left within it. Makoto was right behind her lover. The three outer senshi began to move towards them all as well, having now untangled themselves after watching the Queen fly up and away.

Ami crouched beside Minako, reaching up to pull Makoto down as well beside Rei. "Teleport them! My office!" Ami commanded, grabbing the hands of Makoto and Rei. The three focused, long training overcoming their fear, and with a pop the four figures disappeared, just as Artemis flew through the space were they had been, a fraction too late to jump with them.

As Artemis began cursing softly under his breath, the three remaining senshi quickly came to the King and the Princess.

"Help me up," the King requested of them, and this they did, assisting him in standing as he continued to cradle his daughter and bathe her in the warm life-sustaining glow. Setsuna gently moved the Princess' head to rest against her father's shoulder, and her hanging arm up into her lap. The Princess now appeared to be any young girl fallen asleep and being taken to her bed by a loving parent, rather than the victor of the titanic battle just fought.

"We need to take her up to the medical clinic as well, Endymion," Michiru stated, gesturing back towards the passage leading to the long spiral stairway.

The King nodded, and began to step forward, only to stagger slightly. He caught himself, even as three pairs of hands darted to steady him.

"It seems I'm a bit lightheaded," the King said casually. "Could you go with us, to make sure I don't fall on the stairs?"

"You will not fall, my King," said Setsuna, the formal tone not hiding in the least her determination to ensure that it would be so.

Haruka quickly grabbed the King's crumpled cloak from where it had fallen as he had stood, and draped it back upon his free shoulder, half around the King and the Princess, leaving her head uncovered. Nodding his thanks, he began to walk slowly but steadily towards the stairs. Michiru crouched down briefly, motioning to the three mooncats, who gratefully leaped upon her. Luna and Artemis took up places upon her shoulders and Diana perched atop her head, to keep her hands free to assist the King if needed.

Leaving the rest of the piled clothes behind to be retrieved later, the four walked slowly through the shattered remains of the little park, through the stone passageway, and began climbing the long stairs. With one senshi between the King and the edge of the stairs, and two behind, ready to instantly catch him should he stumble or fall while carrying the precious Princess, they took each step with steady deliberation. Slowly going round and round and round, back up into the light.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Five days later, neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion came again to the door of the hospital room, around which so much activity had been occurring. Dressed respectively in their usual royal white gown and dark quasi-military uniform, the two paused for a moment before the door, sharing between themselves a wordless gaze of determination and resolution. The King dipped his head towards his wife, and the two kissed, both so very glad that the other had come through their recent crisis without permanent harm.

The two finally pulled apart and smiled, both knowing without words that the other was stalling too. With a sigh, the Queen knocked quietly on the door, and after a moment, pushed it open. The two walked quickly inside, closing the door behind them.

Hotaru turned to look at them as they entered. She was sitting up in her hospital bed, the bed's upper part raised to support her, and had been speaking to a figure before her in a wheelchair. Small Lady was standing beside the bed on the far side, listening in to the conversation. Both girls wore the standard hospital gowns for patients. Lady Ami was present as well, sitting off to the right side of the room, in her doctor's robe, apparently busy with charts on the tablet in her hand and the room's medical terminal in front of which she sat.

"That's all?" cried the figure in the wheelchair. "But that's... that's easy!"

Hotaru nodded in reply, smiling easily at Minako, who sat in the wheelchair next to the bed and also wore a patient's gown. Minako's blonde hair was now uneven, but obviously growing back quickly to its former length. The visible portions of her skin showed no sign at all of the terrible burns she had suffered. Indeed, the only indication of harm still apparent was her uneven hair and her heavily bandaged right arm.

Minako looked over and up at the Queen and King. "Hotaru told me how the disappearing uniform trick works! Look, I'll show you..."

"No, you will not!" Doctor Ami's command was direct and piercing. "I told you, Minako, no using powers or straining that arm or anything for at least another week, or you could undo all the healing you've managed to do thus far."

"But I just want to show..."

"Absolutely not!"

Minako whispered loudly to Hotaru, "Soon, we will be free of the Great Tyrant Doctor Ami. Our day of liberation is nigh!"

Ami rolled her eyes and the Princess giggled at Minako's antics, as the Queen and King struggled not to laugh. Hotaru just smiled, not seeming to realize the joy she was causing in everyone else in the room by the simple act.

"Well then, Great Tyrant, if you were listening too, then you show them how easy it is to just swap out of our uniforms!" challenged Minako.

With a sigh, Ami closed her eyes and focused mentally. As the others watched, her doctor's coat was replaced with her senshi uniform. Then the uniform vanished, and Ami sat before them nude. After a moment, her uniform reappeared upon her, and then in turn the doctor's coat was back.

Ami opened her eyes again, gifting Minako with a stern look. "Sufficient, I hope?"

"Yes. Thank you, Ami," replied Minako, her tone much more normal now.

"So, you finally got your answer?" Serenity asked Minako, coming up beside the wheelchair.

"At last. I don't know why none of us thought of it, you just..." Minako began.

"You can tell me later, Minako," interrupted the Queen. "Endymion and I need to talk to Hotaru for a bit."

"All right then, my turn was about up anyway," Minako replied easily, turning the wheelchair a bit with her left hand on the chair's crystal-powered control stick. "But before I go..."

Minako turned the chair back, to face Hotaru's bed directly. "Hotaru, if you would, could you look at Small Lady, please?"

With a puzzled look, Hotaru dutifully turned her head to look at the Princess standing at her bedside.

"I swore to you, Hotaru," said Minako, her voice again serious, "that I would do everything I could to make you see her again. Have I fulfilled my promise?"

Hotaru looked at her friend Chibi-usa, who smiled back at her. Hotaru then turned back to Minako and, smiling her small smile, answered, "Yes, Minako. You did. Thank you, so very much." She then looked at the other occupants of the room, adding, "Thank you all."

Minako looked up at Serenity, with a look of disbelief on her face. "_She's_ thanking _us_!"

Serenity patted Minako on her good shoulder. "I know. We're going to talk to her about that."

Minako nodded and, with a last dark look directed at the Great Tyrant, she directed the chair to take her back out of the room.

"Should I go back to my own room, mama, or can I stay?" said Chibi-usa, obviously preferring the latter.

"You can stay for this, dear," her mother replied, even as she and the King stepped a bit closer to Hotaru's bed.

"How are you feeling, Hotaru?" the King asked.

"I'm fine... um, Your Majesty," Hotaru said, remembering to use the correct title.

Serenity smiled down at her. "We dispense with the titles when it's just us," she explained.

"But I have to get used to using them, Your Majesty," Hotaru countered. "I don't want to be an embarrassment or anything."

The King and Queen shared a look that was just short of pain. "It is simply impossible for that to happen, Hotaru," stressed the King.

"I have a lot of things to learn about Crystal Tokyo, and about being a Lady in the court," insisted Hotaru stubbornly. "Even little things like that."

"That will all come in time," Serenity said. "You don't need to rush things."

"And you don't need to keep thanking us, or the rest, all the time," Endymion added. "It's we who should be thanking you."

"For what?" Hotaru asked, a genuinely puzzled look coming onto her face.

Ami, Serenity, and Endymion shared a look of amazement, each looking at the other two as if needing confirmation that Hotaru had actually just said that.

"I guess we're just going to have to show her, then," said the King. Ami and Serenity nodded their agreement.

"Hotaru, can you step over to the window for a bit?" asked the King, gesturing towards the single window in the wall behind where Ami was sitting at the medical terminal.

"I'd rather she stay in bed a while longer," came immediately from Ami.

As both the King and Hotaru were opening their mouths to protest Ami's demand, the Queen simply gestured at the window itself, and the Silver Crystal in the brooch pinned to the Queen's dress glowed ever so faintly. Both Hotaru and Chibi-usa startled as the outside wall shifted inwards, the material moving quickly to bring the window over to Hotaru's bedside. Ami gave a little 'eep' as the wall moved, thinking initially that she might be engulfed, but the wall moved smoothly around her without disturbing her seat.

"Thank you, dear," said Endymion. Serenity just smiled, and came over to her husband. The two came up closer to the bed, where they could look out it as easily as Hotaru now could.

"Look outside, Hotaru, and please tell me what you see," asked the King.

Hotaru, still rather surprised at windows being brought to her, peered out the window for a bit before answering, looking at the scene before her in the slowly fading light of twilight. "I see what look like gardens, with flowers and grass and gravel pathways. There's a few people there working the flower beds."

"And beyond that?" prompted the Queen.

Hotaru looked out again. "There's a forest in the distance. Lots of trees... I can see some type of huge bird flying over it in circles."

The King and Queen nodded. "That's what you did, and what we're thanking you for," said the Queen.

"Every living thing you see," the King continued, "and all the rest of the living things on the planet, all of them, are alive because of you. The blades of grass, the flowers, the trees, the birds circling above, the bees and other insects too small to see from a window. The people tending the flowers. All the people all over the planet. Everyone, and everything, everywhere."

"Including all of us in this room," added the Queen.

"You saved the whole world, Hotaru. Not everything that was, but everything that is now, only exists because of you," said the King earnestly.

"That's what we're all thanking you for," repeated the Queen. With a gesture from her, the window and wall flowed back to their normal place.

Hotaru looked down at her lap, where she was holding her hands. She was blushing faintly, as she softly said, "You shouldn't thank me for all that. I just... I just did my duty."

Serenity gave a very unlady-like snort. "What you did was so far beyond 'duty' as to obliterate the meaning of the word."

Chibi-usa leaned forward a bit, and reached for one of Hotaru's hands, clasping it lightly in her own, as Hotaru turned to look over at her. "Thank you for giving me a planet to play on... but it's more fun with you here, too," the Princess said quietly, looking directly into her friend's eyes.

Hotaru looked down at her lap again, now blushing fiercely.

"Regardless of why," the Queen stated firmly, "the fact is that the world continues to exist because of what you did. Therefore..."

As she paused, both the King and Queen, in an awkward move, both kneeled before Hotaru's bedside, and bowed their heads. The faces of both the Princess and Lady Ami bore expressions of utter shock, as both knew that neither neo-Queen Serenity nor King Endymion had ever bowed to anyone since their reign began.

After that first moment of shock, Lady Ami also slid down to her knees, joining her king and queen. Chibi-usa began to do the same, but Hotaru's hand clutched fiercely at the Princess' hand, even pulling her arm forward a bit, as the dark-haired girl mouthed silently to her friend, "_Not you_."

Raising their heads, and ignoring both Lady Ami kneeling nearby and the Princess caught in the grip of the one they honored, Serenity said, "In grateful recognition of services rendered to her friends, her fellow senshi, the realm, and all of humanity and the world, we hereby grant to Hotaru Tomoe, Sailor Saturn, one royal boon, to use whenever and however she may desire."

As the two monarchs and doctor rose to their feet, Hotaru could not keep a look of puzzlement from her face. "Thank you, Your Majesties, but... what's a 'boon'?"

The King smiled, and answered, "I'm not surprised the term is unfamiliar; we had to look it up in the archives ourselves, since we've never done this before."

Serenity continued, "A boon is a promise, from us as monarchs, to you, to fulfill one wish, whatever it is. Of course," she added quickly, "it has to be within our power to do it. Without trampling on someone else's rights. We couldn't, oh for example, give you Australia, since that would mean we'd have to move everyone there out and take their land, and all that."

The King mused, "Actually, we could. If we gave them ample compensation, and paid their moving and relocation costs, we could under the terms of royal land grants that apply to everyone, take title to the whole continent, every piece of it. It would take time, and upset a lot of people, but if Hotaru wants Australia we could give it to her."

The Queen replied, "Oh good. Hotaru, do you want Australia?" Her tone and entire expression indicated that she was entirely serious.

Hotaru, her wide eyes showing how shocked she was by the very question, could only emphatically shake her head in the negative.

"Australia _is_ kind of dusty. Any other place, then?" pressed the Queen.

"No. I don't want any place," Hotaru said, desperately waving her hands to make her rejection clear.

"Well, is there anything you do want, for your boon?" asked the King.

Hotaru paused, thinking. "How about a chocolate sundae?" she asked.

Serenity actually stamped her foot in frustration. "It's not a boon if it's something simple, something we'd do for you anyway!"

"You don't have to decide right now," counseled Endymion. "You can save it for later, until you think of something to use it on."

Hotaru, shaking her head, said quietly, "I can't think of anything that I'd..." She stopped, her expression saying clearly that she'd had an idea.

"Your Majesties, does the boon commit all of the royal family to the promise?" Hotaru asked, quite deliberately not looking at the Princess.

"Yes, it does," answered Chibi-usa firmly, before anyone else could say otherwise.

The Queen and King shared a glance, and smiled. "I guess it does," confirmed the Queen.

"Then there is something..." began Hotaru, as she clasped her hands together in her lap nervously again. "Something that would be... nice..."

"What?" three royals asked as one.

"Could Chibi-usa sleep here in my room tonight? We still haven't had a chance to really talk..." the dark-haired senshi explained.

As the Princess looked at her mother hopefully, Serenity sighed. "Still not a boon," the Queen answered, "but surely you two can do that after you're both let out of the clinic."

Hotaru looked at the Queen gravely. "I'm sorry, Sailor Moon. I think I'm learning not to assume that I have more time."

The Queen opened her mouth, but then closed it slowly, realizing that against that she had absolutely no argument to make.

The King interjected quickly, "As long as both Small Lady and your doctor are fine with it, I don't see a problem."

Chibi-usa said, "Of course I want to. It'll be like a slumber party."

Doctor Ami answered, "Certainly. Makes it easier to monitor one room rather than two, anyway."

Hotaru turned to Ami and asked, "I know you're monitoring us, but can we be... private?"

Ami glanced at the Queen and King, then answered, "Of course. I can set the sensors in the room to just monitor your medical readings, and not any sight or sound. You'll be private." At Hotaru's somewhat dubious look, she added, "You have my word, as a doctor and as a senshi."

Hotaru nodded, satisfied with Ami's promise.

"All right then," said Serenity. "Hotaru, think about what you might want for your boon, something real. If you never use it, so be it, but just know that you can whenever you like. Oh, and one other thing... every Lady of the court has a room here in the palace, so you'll have one as well. Any particular style you'd like, or location you'd prefer?"

"Next to mine," and "Next to hers" said the Princess and Hotaru, as one.

"That was easy enough," smiled the King.

"Perhaps that can be my boon?" asked Hotaru hopefully.

"_Still_ not a boon," insisted Serenity. "Remember, a boon is something we wouldn't do anyway, and we'd certainly put your rooms where you'd prefer."

Ami had been changing settings on the medical terminal as the others spoke. "All set," she now said, "you'll be private. But if you need anything, either of you, simply speak out 'computer' and whatever, and we'll get the message and come right away."

The two girls nodded their understanding.

"Should I get another bed rolled into the room, or is that one big enough for two?" Ami continued.

"Uh, this one seems plenty big," replied Hotaru. The Princess nodded in agreement. That both girls slightly blushed was diplomatically ignored by the rest of the room's occupants.

"All right then," repeated the Queen, as she and her husband turned to leave. "Don't stay up all night whispering secrets."

"Isn't that what slumber parties are for?" teased Ami, as she stood to leave with the monarchs.

Both girls showed via their pained expressions what they thought of even the good-natured teasing.

"See you in the morning, then," added Ami. With a wave, the three adults left the hospital room, Ami shutting the door quietly behind them.

The three walked just a few steps down the hallway, and turned into a large open area, that had been sectioned off into smaller compartments by use of portable partition screens. Ami stopped at the very first such area, plopping down in a chair that was placed in front of a row of monitors and displays. Makoto was already in this little area, lying down on a cot placed just past the monitors. She appeared to be asleep, lying on her side, and dressed only in hospital scrubs.

"When can you let them out of the clinic?" the Queen asked Ami.

"Tomorrow. Frankly, I can't think of any other reason to keep them here, though I'd certainly like to, especially Hotaru," replied Ami in her professional doctor tone. "Small Lady could have been discharged days ago, since she was only exhausted to begin with. But I kept her here to keep Hotaru company and to start to help Hotaru adjust to what to her is this whole new world."

"Good. A certain little mooncat will be quite happy to hear that. What does Hotaru remember about everything that happened?" the Queen continued.

"She said she remembered being with us all as the machines attacked, and pouring healing energy into Endymion, and then next she woke up in the hospital here. Apparently she doesn't remember anything about being under the ice, or our attempts to free her," Ami explained.

"We're absolutely certain that this really is Hotaru, and not some trick by some weird new youma or demon or something?" inquired the King.

"Every test I've run says that's Hotaru. Minako and she mind-linked yesterday as well, briefly, and Minako says it's Hotaru; of us all, she would know."

The Queen added, "I know you're just being cautious, dear, but seeing the Silence Glaive fly into her hand was confirmation enough for me."

"It never hurts to be as sure as possible," Endymion replied. "Have all your tests been double-checked by the other doctors?" he asked of Ami.

"Sure, it's not like the several hundred of them you had brought in had anything else to do," Ami said, waving her arm in the direction of the large room, and the several rooms beyond, that all three knew were filled with doctors and nurses.

"We pay them stipends throughout their entire careers so they'll come in a royal emergency. If nothing else, it's good to remind them of that responsibility," the King insisted.

"That's all well and good, of course. And after the way we completely shocked the staff we had on hand at the time, calling in extra was probably a wise decision."

Serenity looked a bit abashed. "I suppose I was a bit forceful when I came up with Hotaru through the floor."

Ami just looked at the Queen. "Shouting 'Save the girl or suffer my wrath' might have been a bit 'forceful', yes."

"It got their attention," Serenity countered.

"I won't argue that," Ami agreed.

"So, have we decided how to explain everything to everyone?" Serenity asked, to change the topic.

"I suggest we don't explain anything, at least not to the medical staff," replied Ami. "So far, the explanations they're coming up with are far more inventive than anything we could think up."

"What are they coming up with?" asked the King, obviously curious.

"So far the leading theory is that we kidnapped some poor peasant girl - that would be Hotaru - to use her as a sacrifice in a strange ceremony to at last initiate Small Lady into our circle of wanton depravity, only something went wrong and Minako got hurt instead. Which explains why all of us showed up naked carrying the injured," Ami replied theatrically.

"Peasant girl? Earth doesn't have any peasants," the King protested.

Ami just shrugged. "I said it was inventive, not accurate."

The King looked slightly insulted. "Well, after tomorrow we can send all the non-locals back home, so they can't gossip anymore."

"You're going to monitor them tonight, as well?" the Queen asked of Ami.

"Yes. Makoto will spell me so I can get a few hours of sleep," Ami replied. Makoto raised up one arm and waved, in confirmation, not bothering to open her eyes.

"You're really just monitoring their vital signs?" the King asked, while looking at the various monitors and readouts before them.

"Of course. I gave my word, after all," was the slightly irritated reply from the doctor.

"But..." was all the King got out, before Serenity gently took his arm.

"Don't be one of _those_ fathers, dear," she gently chided her husband. "They both deserve some private time, and if they don't want to wait, I don't blame them. They've been apart for so long, after all."

The King sighed, then nodded. "Are the others still just down the hall?" he asked Ami, changing the subject.

"Yes," she replied, "none of us are leaving until both of them are released, just in case we need to pool power or something. And to take our turns visiting with her, of course. I think they're still playing poker down there."

"Like we'd leave, either," the Queen said, laughing. "Come on dear, our cots await." Serenity took her husband's arm, and waved farewell to Ami.

The two walked slowly through the large room, not really seeing much inside each of the temporary compartments constructed within, other than additional medical equipment and boxes of supplies. Apparently the numerous staff had mostly bedded down for the night in quarters further down the long hallway, except for a few who would also be monitoring the vital signs of their very important patients, just in case.

Stepping into another hallway and coming to what had quickly been christened 'the poker room', the two monarchs stopped and peeked inside, each standing on a side of the doorway. Looking in, they could see Minako, Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna gathered around a circular table. There were several cots placed against the wall, and the table was covered with cards and chips. An empty wheelchair was shoved into a corner. Though Minako was seated at the table, she did not have any cards in front of her.

"You're not playing?" Serenity asked Minako.

"They'll deal me in after this round," replied the blonde, smiling up at the Queen.

"What's with the 'Great Tyrant Doctor Ami' stuff?" inquired the King, a grin on his face at the memory.

If anything, Minako's smile grew wider. "That was actually Ami's own idea. To help Hotaru begin to overcome the culture shock. This isn't the planet she knew, and we're not the teenagers we were back then, even if we look the same. Being a bit silly helps her connect the young people she remembers with the old biddies we are now."

"But railing against her as a doctor?" said the Queen. "Isn't that a bit much?"

Minako shrugged. "Like I said, it was her idea. Same thing with me using the wheelchair when I don't need to, and keeping my arm bandaged for a few more days."

"It's healed already?" the Queen asked in surprise.

In response, Minako simply pulled at the heavy bandages with her left hand, while flexing her right arm. The gauze and padding pulled away, falling in a heap to the floor. Her right arm was thus revealed, looking almost as healthy as it ever had, the pink blush of new skin being all that indicated it had ever been injured. She flexed her fingers, wrist, and arm, showing everyone that it was back in working order.

"Ami says in another week it'll look like nothing ever happened. And my hair should be back in shape, too," Minako said happily.

"Aren't you supposed to keep it bandaged, though?" Serenity questioned.

Minako again just shrugged, replying, "There's plenty of nurses around who'd jump at having something to do. I'll have them rewrap it before Hotaru can see me, in the morning."

"There's another matter that requires your attention, Your Majesties," interrupted Haruka in a sober tone. She looked over at the two by the doorway from where she sat, a deadly serious look upon her face.

At the questioning looks from Serenity and Endymion, Haruka turned in her seat, and with a look of condemnation pointed directly at Setsuna.

"For thousands of years, she's been cheating at cards!" Haruka thundered, the dire accusation falling from her lips like a pronouncement of doom.

Setsuna merely lifted an eyebrow. Then she too shrugged, and nodded in confirmation.

"See? She admits it!" cried Haruka.

"It never affected any timeline, so why not?" asked Setsuna. "Besides," she directed back at Haruka, "if I was going to be punished for millennia for saving your cute but sorry ass, I didn't see why I couldn't win a few card games out of the deal."

Haruka turned to the others, her face comically shocked. "She said my ass is cute."

Michiru replied, "Your ass _is_ cute."

Minako added, utterly deadpan, "I'm afraid it's true. Your ass is cute."

"Well, I guess it's good that you think so, Setsuna," Haruka said thoughtfully. "Because by the end of this game you might be kissing it!" she concluded, crowing.

Michiru looked over at the royal couple. "Setsuna apparently used her knowledge of future events to always win at cards. It's why we could never beat her," she explained.

"But now, we can!" exulted Haruka.

Setsuna merely sighed.

Laughing a bit at the time senshi's discomfiture, the couple waved to the poker room's occupants, and continued on down the hallway. At the next doorway, the door opened just as the two came up beside it. Rei, starting to come out of the room, startled a bit at seeing the pair.

"Oh, there you are," Rei said, smiling at them both. She was also dressed in the ubiquitous hospital scrubs. "I had the staff put a bed in this room, instead of cots."

"That'll be a lot more comfortable. Thanks Rei," said Serenity, returning the smile.

"And it's a very, very big bed," Rei said suggestively, looking at the King and Queen. Rei reached out and took one of each of their hands in her own, and drew them both inside the room, smiling a seductive smile that was just shy of an open leer.

Both Serenity and Endymion laughed at Rei's antics, and they allowed Rei to pull them inside, the King using his foot to kick the door closed behind them.

* * *

In Hotaru's hospital room, the two friends were at last alone.

"I hope you really didn't mind being with me tonight," Hotaru said quietly.

"Not at all! I want to spend time with you," replied Chibi-usa brightly. "I'm glad you thought of it."

"Well, maybe you can fulfill that 'boon' thing tonight. I wish they hadn't done that," the dark-haired girl said.

Chibi-usa laughed. "Having a slumber party with my best friend isn't a boon, silly."

"Part of it might be," Hotaru said. "You don't mind sleeping in one bed tonight?"

"Of course not. It'll be comfy," said the Princess, shuffling off her hospital slippers and about to climb into the bed as well.

Hotaru's face began to blush. "Naked?" she asked, very quietly indeed.

The Princess stopped her movement, remaining standing beside the bed. She just looked at her friend, without expression.

"That's the boon," Hotaru said. "Not anything... more, just that. I'll explain..."

Hotaru's voice trailed off, as Chibi-usa slowly reached behind her back to find the fastener of the hospital gown, and released it. Just as slowly, she reached up behind her neck to find the fastener there, and released that one as well. The gown hung open behind her. She unhurriedly pulled it away from her, revealing her nude form from underneath it. The Princess casually folded the gown and tossed it into one of the chairs against the wall.

Then, standing revealed before her friend, she began to gradually remove the hairpins from her hair which maintained the royal odango style. The Princess watched her friend watching her, almost feeling Hotaru's eyes taking in her nudity. Even as she slowly removed and discarded each pin, placing each one in turn on the nightstand by the bed, Chibi-usa realized that unlike being naked in front of her parents and the other senshi, in front of Hotaru she was not embarrassed at all. It was, she thought suddenly, the difference being doing what you had to do, and what you wanted to do.

Being naked with Hotaru in bed was something that Chibi-usa realized she very much wanted to do.

By the time the last pins were removed, and her pink hair was falling loose all around her, Chibi-usa felt as if her heart were pounding loudly in her chest. For a moment, Hotaru simply looked at her friend, drinking deep of the beauty of her innocent form. Finally Hotaru moved, reaching behind her and undoing the fashioners of her own hospital gown. More quickly was this gown removed, Hotaru simply dropping it off the far side of the bed to fall onto the floor.

The two friends looked at each other. One standing, completely revealed to the other. The second sitting in the bed, also revealed but the bed covers still over most of her lower body. Both girlish forms concealing the uncountable years that both had been through, each in so very different ways.

Chibi-usa and Hotaru both swallowed audibly. At hearing the other's gulp, both girls smiled slightly, each realizing the other was just as nervous.

Hotaru moved then, shifting her hand to the bed's controls, and moving the head of the bed to a flat position, though she remained sitting upright. With her other hand, she pulled the bed sheets back, creating a space beside her for her friend, a wordless invitation.

Chibi-usa began to move towards the bed, to accept that invitation, when she stopped just at the edge of the bed, just shy of taking her feet off the floor. Looking at Hotaru with the barest hint of a smile, she said to her friend, "_Still_ not a boon."

Then the Princess crawled into bed next to the dark-haired senshi. Lying down on her back, very aware of the scant centimeters that now separated their bodies, the Princess looked up at her friend and asked quietly, "How do you want me?"

Hotaru felt her own heart beating loudly, as she realized the level of absolute trust that her friend's words implied.

"Could you lie on your right side, please?" Hotaru asked, gesturing briefly in the direction away from herself.

With a puzzled look, the Princess complied, rolling over on her right side, now facing away from her friend. As she wiggled a bit, getting comfortable, Hotaru pulled down one of the pillows from the head of the bed, and placed it under her friend's head. As Chibi-usa settled her head down gratefully on the pillow, she could hear Hotaru pull another pillow down and place it behind her, beside the first.

Hotaru then slowly pulled the sheets back over the Princess, lying down on her own side as she did so. The sheets now covering them both, Hotaru placed her head on her own pillow. Then, holding her breath as she did so, she reached her arm around the Princess' body, slipping her hand under Chibi-usa's left arm and gently grasping around her waist. Hotaru shifted around, somewhat awkwardly, until the purpose of her request of her friend became clear. The two girls were now spooned together, knees just slightly bent, Hotaru's left hand resting tentatively on Chibi-usa's stomach, the tip of a ring finger just barely against a belly button.

Hotaru moved her leg a bit, sliding just the calf between Chibi-usa's. Chibi-usa could feel the faint brush of Hotaru's breath on the top of her shoulder, and the press of Hotaru's small bare breasts against her back. Hotaru's thighs were against the back of her own thighs.

Hotaru pulled Chibi-usa slightly tighter against herself, the two girls snuggling together under the covers. Chibi-usa brought her left hand over to cover Hotaru's hand where it lay against her stomach, and entwined her fingers with her friend's fingers, curling in to grasp her hand. Chibi-usa had never been so aware of her own skin before, or how wonderful merely pressing against someone could be.

Thus gently entwined with her friend, Hotaru cleared her throat, and began to speak into the Princess' ear, barely above a whisper.

"I said I'd explain," Hotaru began. "You see, a couple of weeks ago... well, a couple of weeks to me, before the ice came, that is... I mean, it seems like only a few weeks..."

"I know what you mean," Chibi-usa quietly reassured, squeezing Hotaru's hand gently.

"Anyway... back then, on that night in Rei's shrine, when Minako and I accidently discovered what happened when we put our sigils together... at one point, after a lot of other stuff happened, I woke up in the middle of the night. Minako was asleep and she was holding me like I'm holding you now. And it felt so... nice to be held. Not anything else, just... being held.

"And I remember thinking that I wanted to hold _you_," Hotaru squeezed Chibi-usa softly as emphasis, "like that, and how nice it would be. Just to be with you, like we are now. So when your mother talked about a boon, I remembered..."

Touched deeply, Chibi-usa hugged Hotaru's arm tighter to herself.

"So," continued Hotaru, "I'd like to just be with you, like this, for one night. Nothing... more. Not tonight. And if you don't want to, in the future, that's fine, and I understand, and I won't ask or anything, but... I just want this one night. So no matter what happens, I'll have this night, and no one will be able to take it away from me."

Chibi-usa had to swallow hard, lest the upswell of emotion within her overwhelm her, at how her friend could give so much to her, and the world, and expect so little in return.

"So that's my boon, I guess. Just this night, with you. Like this," finished Hotaru.

There was a long pause. The two girls listened to each other breathing, Hotaru feeling the faint fall and rise of Chibi-usa's stomach against her arm, while Chibi-usa felt the press of Hotaru's stomach against her lower back.

Then Chibi-usa rotated her head back towards Hotaru, so her friend could hear what she had to say.

"First, Hotaru, like I said; still not a boon," the Princess stated, somewhat forcefully. "I'd gladly be with you, like this. Tonight, or any night. Or _every_ night."

Hotaru's eyes went wide, though of course Chibi-usa couldn't see her friend's face.

"Second," she continued, more quietly, "if this is all you want tonight, that's fine, and I'm glad... no, very very glad, to just... be held. By you. Like you said, it's... nice. Really nice. But I want you to know... for the future..."

Her voice trailing off, as she ran out of words that she could think to say, to try to explain, Chibi-usa left words behind, and slowly brought Hotaru's hand from where it lay against her stomach, and brought it up to lie against her bare right breast.

"A promise for the future. For doing... more," the Princess said softly, holding Hotaru's hand to her breast, and to her heart.

Hotaru's sharp intake of breath spoke louder than words of her surprise. Chibi-usa's breast, though smaller than even her own, felt so large in her hand, so soft. Hotaru without thought moved her fingers ever so slightly, both girls learning how small the difference was between a hand lying on a breast and one cupping it.

Moments went by, neither girl moving as their hearts thundered in each chest. Then slowly, almost regretfully, Hotaru slid her hand back down Chibi-usa's torso, along her skin, to resume its place against her trembling stomach, the gentle motion causing the small nipple to harden even as the slender fingers slid away.

"I..." Hotaru began, having to stop a moment to regain her voice. "I don't want you to do anything... I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything because..." Her voice trailed off, Hotaru not knowing how to say what she meant.

"I don't feel that way, Hotaru. I mean, I don't feel like I owe you or anything." The Princess struggled as well to put words to the complicated feelings inside her. "I mean... senshi help each other and don't keep score or anything.

"This is... because I want to. With you. Because... because I love you, Hotaru."

Chibi-usa could just barely hear the gasp from the girl behind her, the girl she loved, the sound was so slight. But she could feel the tremble of the arm around her, and the movement of her love's skin against her own, each slight movement a pleasure in its own right.

"I love you too, Chibi-usa," Hotaru finally managed to say.

Neither girl could see the tears of joy threatening to spill over from the other's eyes, but each could feel the other pull them close. Chibi-usa once again gently pulled Hotaru's hand up, but this time she pulled it out from under the covers and held the hand in front of her, and she bowed down her head, kissing Hotaru's palm. Then she put Hotaru's arm and hand back in what now seemed its proper place, around her, holding her.

For a time, the two simply lay happily if quietly in the bed, princess of the moon in the arms of the senshi of death and rebirth, cuddling together.

Then a thought occurred to the dark-haired girl, and she raised up her head a bit off the pillow, to speak more directly in her love's ear.

"You know... no one here calls you 'Chibi-usa' any more, do they? What should I call you, now?" Hotaru asked.

The Princess snorted slightly, the question a complete surprise to her.

"Well," she began, thinking it out even as she spoke, "most just call me 'Small Lady' most of the time. That's what all the senshi call me when we're being 'ladies of the court' and all. The staff call me 'Small Lady' most of the time, too, but it's 'Your Highness' on formal occasions. There's 'Sailor Chibimoon', of course, but no one is supposed to know we're senshi, particularly not that I'm a senshi too, so I don't get called that very often. Sometimes people call me 'Princess', but that's not often, either. My full name is 'Princess Small Lady Usagi'... no, that's part a name and part a title, I suppose, and that's when it's a really formal occasion. I used 'Usagi Tsukino' back in the twentieth century, which is my name, sort of, I guess, but it's mama's name too, or was back then, before she changed it, which is why they came up with 'Chibi-usa' in the first place... technically my name really is 'Usagi' but I almost never get called that, since I'm pretty sure everyone still thinks of mama as 'Usagi' even if they call her 'Serenity' all the time..."

The Princess was interrupted by Hotaru squeezing her gently with her arm, even as she leaned forward to kiss the bare royal shoulder.

"I love you," said Hotaru, just slightly exasperated, "but you have _way_ too many names."

Chibi-usa silently jerked within Hotaru's arms, and Hotaru was briefly concerned until she realized the shorter girl was having trouble breathing from suddenly starting to laugh so hard.

The pink-haired Princess gasped, finally managing to get out through her laughter, "I know!"

The two girls laughed together, snuggling closer, both content to spend the night thus, in the other's arms, wrapped in their so very hard-won love. The rest of the night, and the rest of their lives, together.

* * *

Back at the poker room, Setsuna could only wince as she watched Haruka pull another huge pile of chips from the center of the table to join the even larger pile she already possessed.

"At this rate by morning I'll own the whole planet of Pluto!" Haruka exclaimed happily, almost chortling in her vengeful glee.

"Serenity will make you give it back if I ask her to," Setsuna said, trying to appear calm in the face of her ongoing thrashing.

"Not if we ask Hotaru to ask her not to," Michiru sweetly replied.

Setsuna opened her mouth to reply to that, but then just closed it, not having a ready retort.

Minako simply shook her head sadly, wondering if she should explain to Setsuna what a 'poker face' was, the green-haired woman obviously never needing to develop one before. But, she decided, Haruka and Michiru did deserve at least one night of tromping the time senshi at cards, especially since no planets or anything else was really being played for, none of the senshi actually needing to 'own' anything; the chips and such just being a part of the game. Besides, the senshi of love decided, teaching Setsuna how to really play cards would be fun to do, and she was looking forward to it.

For now, though, Setsuna could only look glum, as yet another round saw her lose, badly, as now Michiru raked in her winnings. Michiru smiled widely at the time senshi, a bit more gracious in victory than her lover, but only a bit.

Setsuna sat back in the chair, wondering when morning would finally arrive. She realized, though she would never admit it where Haruka could possibly overhear it, that this was a small price indeed to pay for having used her foreknowledge in the past games against her friends, and that their victory now (and the ones likely to keep coming) was their due. So she just sighed audibly as her friends exulted at her misfortunate, knowing her dejected look was adding to their enjoyment of the game.

Setsuna also kept to herself how much she was starting to enjoy not having the slightest idea what on Earth was going to happen next. 

THE END


End file.
